High Bridge: A Social Enterprise Co.

06/12/2018

04/18/2018

Green Infrastructure and reducing stormwater flow are vital to sustainable sites - here a "SITES-certified" (by the American Society of Landscape Architects) project at George Washington University, captures 100% of all site stormwater which falls onto the site. Project uses rain gardens, permeable paving and underground cisterns, with water re-harvested for irrigation & central water feature. This is progress!

http://www.sustainablesites.org/square-80-plaza-george-washington-university

03/20/2018

High Bridge's Program Manager and crew member, Shawn Smith, presented at Delta Institute's and the Calumet Stormwater Collaborative's morning seminar, entitled "Stormwater Training for Practical Implementation". We discussed our *very* practical and successful maintenance contracts and our company's three seasons of work. We were thrilled to be a part of this networking event - here are (some) of the slides we presented.

01/22/2018

Similar findings have been seen with adults, too.

01/22/2018

(per the study just posted, above, from Wash Post): "The mechanisms linking nature and mental health are fascinating to say the least and , not surprisingly, an active area of theoretical study, said Kirsten Beyer at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee.

"Another possibility is the BIOPHILIA hypothesis, which argues that humans have this inherent biological tendency to respond positively to natural environments."

01/04/2018

High Bridge tree care work, 2017, at the City of Chicago's Major Taylor Trail.
High Bridge worked with the Nature Conservancy, Openlands and the Chicago Park District on this two-year maintenance project.

01/04/2018

As an example of the incredible resources found at treesandstormwater.org, a July, 2002 study done by the Center for Urban Forest Research, found that a typical medium-sized TREE can intercept as much as 2,380 gallons of rainfall per year.

High Bridge has worked on numerous tree planting and tree care maintenance programs throughout the years. Here's to more tree planting work for years to come.

01/04/2018

In mid-December, 2017, High Bridge staff participated in a fascinating webinar sponsored by the US EPA and presented by NARC staff (narc.org) on Urban Trees and the benefits they provide to intercept stormwater. Check out the website, treesandstormwater.org for an incredible and easily-accessible listing of important resources; very important work.

11/02/2017

Some before and after pictures of a one-year-old rain garden at historic Greenstone Church in Pullman; this garden collects church roof rainfall; excavating in 2016 and 2017 results.

11/02/2017

Hello - another day, another shot of a beneficial pollinator at a different High Bridge green infrastructure site. Here, a leafcutter bee (?) gathering pollen from our native Hibiscus plant in Blue Island, IL.
According to the Honeybeeconservancy.org site, " The Leafcutter Bee is a productive pollinator for summer gardens and flowers. The female carries pollen on the underside of her hairy abdomen, and then scrapes the pollen off within her nesting hole. Because the pollen is carried dry on her hair, it falls off easily as she moves among blossoms. This results in significantly more pollinated flowers than her cousin, the honey bee, who wets the pollen so it sticks to the legs during transport to the hive." Again, nature = super cool.

11/01/2017

We're ***really*** thrilled with the pollinators we're attracting at our native habitat landscapes in under-served parts of the Chicago region - here is one in Robbins, IL.

11/01/2017

All of the rain gardens and native landscapes High Bridge maintains and installs are also magnets for *beneficial* pollinators. This shot is of one in Robbins, Il., an area with few natural area resources. This short 8 second video proves that, "if you build it, they will find it" - and how special and fascinating pollinating insects are - enjoy.