Landmark Design is in the process of documenting two projects for the Sustainable Sites Initiative Pilot Program: the Bat Cave Draw Visitor Center Rehabilitation Project at Carlsbad Caverns, which was designed in-house by the Denver Service Center, and the Visitor and Information Center at Mesa Verde National Park, which was designed by a mulch-disciplinary team which included Landmark Design.

The Bat Cave Draw and Visitor Center Rehabilitation Project was recently featured as the Pilot Project Spotlight for the Winter 2011.  Click here to see the article that was submitted, and is now featured on our project web page. We have also included more before and after slides of the site, including historical photos from the 1940's.

If you would like to sign up for the email newsletter published by the Sustainable Sites Initiative, this link will take you to the sign up form on their website.

by Lisa Benson

The National Park Service has contracted with Landmark Design, Inc. as part of a larger design team to take two National Park Service projects through the Sustainable Sites Initiative™ (SITES™) Pilot Program. 

SITES™ is an interdisciplinary effort by the American Society of Landscape Architects, the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center at The University of Texas at Austin and the United States Botanic Garden to create voluntary national guidelines and performance benchmarks for sustainable land design, construction and maintenance practices.

Landmark Design will lead the effort to document the sustainable practices implemented on the new Mesa Verde Visitor and Research Center in Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado and the Bat Cave Draw and Visitor Center Rehabilitation in Carlsbad Caverns National Park, New Mexico. 

Landmark Design was part of the original design team led by ajc architects, inc., which prepared design and
construction documents for the Visitor and Research Center.  The Visitor and Research Center will be located in close proximity to Highway 160, allowing more convenient access to visitor information and resources. The site sensitive landscape design surrounding the Visitor and Research Center reflects this national park's mission to educate the public about the archeological, biological and physical resources of the park and their interconnectivity. Revegetation of the site will be accomplished through a mix of native and drought tolerant species while addressing concerns of fire danger. The project has been designed to achieve LEED Platinum certification.  Construction is now underway.

The Bat Cave Draw and Visitor Center Rehabilitation was through a joint effort by the U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration and by landscape architects at the National Park Service’s Denver Service Center.  

Parking lot runoff containing contaminants such as motor oil and antifreeze has been found in cavern pools. This greyfield project removed the existing parking area adversely impacting the cavern and rehabilitated it to a natural state using vegetation native to this national park. Additional work was done to collect and treat runoff in new parking areas to protect the cave and to revegetate areas adjacent to the visitor center.  Construction was completed this past summer.