The Malletts Creek Master's Project:

A group of six graduate students at the University of Michigan's School of Natural Resources is researching one component of the Malletts Creek restoration activities that are going on under the auspices of the Washtenaw County Drain Commissioner.  This project is yet in its beginnings, but will be carried out in full by May of 1999.  Results will be posted on this web page.

Main Goal of the Project:

To discover what types of ecological residential landscape designs are acceptable, or preferred, by Malletts creekshed residents.

Main Objectives of the Project:

• To design a typical Malletts Creekshed lawn that will serve as a "model ecological landscape" based on a real local study site in order to determine how it might look to increase wildlife habitat and stormwater retention.  In this design, some assumptions about human preference will be incorporated to enhance acceptability among residents.
• To learn about human residential landscape preferences in Malletts creekshed and how an ecological landscape can be designed to fit those preferences.
• To learn about what kinds of incentives might be useful in assisting creekshed residents in implementing an ecological landscape.
• To provide recommendations about these residential landscape designs, preferences and incentives to the Washtenaw County Drain Commissioner.

The Design Team will use Oakbrook Villas, a relatively new residential construction in the creekshed, as a study site.  They will create a series of design alternatives to both the pervious (driveways, paths, etc.) and the pervious (lawn, gardens) areas of the site to simulate ecological and cultural design criteria that the group recommends in the Malletts creekshed.  To find out more about the effects of impervious and pervious residential areas, click here!

The Survey Team will use a version of this draft survey to better understand how creekshed residents feel about their residential landscapes and how willing might be to implement the group's "alternative lawn" recommendations.  We will be joining community meetings over the winter to show slides and ask folks about how they like certain landscapes.

The Geographic Information Systems Team will provide an analysis of the ecological effect of implementing the alternative lawns across the creekshed and also will provide an analysis of the possible diffusion of innovation that could occur as a result of an education program targeting a certain "norm-setting" homeowner(s) in particular neighborhoods.  Again, we have selected Oakbrook Villas as our experimental neighborhood, at this stage in the project, and have begun the simulation in the center of the neighborhood, using the color blue to show the sequential adoption of alternative lawn design and behaviors across time.  For more information on the mathematical process behind the diffusion of innovation method used here, please click here!