Lessons from Owens Lake: Examining the Integration of Ecological and Aesthetic Design on a Dry Lake

Session: 28. - Pilot Projects and Future Visions: Transdisciplinary Collaboration for Applied Research

Alexander Robinson, USC, [email protected]

Abstract

Once the third largest lake in California and then – having been dried by the City of Los Angeles – one of the greatest sources of dust in the world, the Owens Lake of today bears little resemblance to most “Great Lakes” of the world. Civil society’s recent attempt to remediate the complex loss caused by its desiccation – without refilling it – has produced a radical intermediate landscape. Remarkably, public trust doctrine has helped transform what was initially just a dust control project, into reconstructing a lake-like landscape. Owens Lake is now a lake made and known in parts, its quality is based on various valuations, ranging from ecological to aesthetic. By extraordinary necessity (and mishap) this has induced an ambitious trans-disciplinary effort that spans between ecological restoration and landscape architecture invention. Following an explication of the regulatory apparatus and history that produced this effort, the presentation will examine issues and trends that emerged through their integration at Owens Lake within recent pilot projects. The presentation will conclude with lessons and questions emerging from this integrated practice and with design, in general, within such irreversibly altered waterscapes.

1. Keyword
environmental health

2. Keyword
ecosystem modeling

3. Keyword
planning

4. Additional Keyword
design

5. Additional Keyword
landscape architecture

6. Additional Keyword
public trust doctrine