SUNY-ESF awarded $413,000 grant to grow plants on roof of Gateway Center
SUNY-ESF has been awarded a $413,000 grant to grow native plant species on the roof of the school’s new Gateway Center.
The money was awarded as part of the New York State Environmental Facilities Corporation’s ‘Green Innovation Grant’ program. The NYSEFC runs this grant competition to help spur development of innovative green industry in New York, said Jon Sorensen, NYSEFC director of public information.
‘It’s a very cool program. There are not many of these incubator competitions across the nations,’ Sorensen said. ‘We’re awarding and encouraging green programs and having them compete against each other.’
The State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry application was part of the third round of the grant competition and scored highly among the 173 applicants. The Central New York Regional Economic Development Council also recommended the project, which helped boost the application’s score, Sorensen said.
The green roof will be 5,000 square feet and will help to absorb rain. The Gateway Center, which will house the green roof, is set to open in the fall, according to a May 24 SUNY-ESF press release.
The green roof will feature native plant species from the shores of Lake Ontario. Green roofs are harsh growing environments due to temperature and moisture extremes and significant sunlight exposure. Because of this, green roofs are normally populated by sedum plants, a species that is limited in its ecological value and function, Dr. Donald Leopold, chair of the SUNY-ESF Department of Environmental and Forest Biology, said in the release.
The alternative to using sedum plants is growing native plant species that come from harsh environments and have adapted to more extreme conditions. Preliminary studies have shown that dozens of native plant species from Lake Ontario will be able to grow on the roof. The roof will also feature several very rare New York plant species, Leopold said.
One of the main reasons the green roof project was chosen was because, if the project is successful and the plants are able to grow, the plants could be used on other green roofs and greatly help with the development of green roofs in the future, Sorensen said.
Published on May 25, 2012 at 12:00 pm
Contact Jessica: jliannet@syr.edu | @JessicaIannetta
