By Mark Abromaitis
THE ERICKSON TRIBUNE

“Linden Ponds is one of the best examples of a large site that took great pains to save the natural environment,” says Kevin Glover, senior vice president of development services for Erickson. “Most companies come in, clear a site and  just start building. We did a lot of hands on research to save and restore every bit of land we could that is crucial to the [nearby] watershed.”

Investing in natural assets
The land on which Linden Ponds sits is a treasure trove of natural assets. And in building the community, contractors had to respect those assets.

Daylor Consulting provided the engineering, and landscape surveying for the site during the project. Steven Bernstein, P.E., president and chief operating officer of Daylor, explains.

“From the very beginning of this project the design team built around the  existing environmental features on the property. Not only are we respecting the wetlands and the land along the Plymouth River, we’re used them as elements in the design of the community.”

Saving several species
But not only can properly preserved wetlands save money, they can also save species. Up to one-half of North American bird species nest or feed in  wetlands.

Without their habitat, wetland-dependent species can’t survive. So it goes  without saying that Linden Ponds is doing its part to help protect this valuable natural resource.

To accomplish this, in certain areas, Daylor restored struggling wetlands. “We actually pulled waste materials out of the wetlands. In some cases we replicated and created new wetlands adjacent to the old ones in order to restore their functionality,” says Bernstein.

Appreciate what you’re given
“There are some things that are just so beautiful, and done so right (by nature) that you just don’t want to touch it,” Glover says.