Habitat Preservation Projects

Habitat Exchange requires us to acknowledge that by developing a site for our own use, we have evicted other species from their home. Areas that are now brownfields or greyfields were once thriving ecosystems; as a way to protect intact bionetworks from suffering the same demise, project teams pursuing certification under the Living Building Challenge must safeguard an area of land equal to their own development*.

Yet, beyond this basic notion of protection can also be one of appreciation. The building industry has benefited greatly from the many teaching examples provided by nature, and there is poetry in offering our thanks to a particular plant or animal species for the lessons they have shared by preserving their home. After all, they do not operate within the same bartering constraints that we humans have created and cannot purchase the land for themselves.

The International Living Building Institute, in partnership with The Biomimicry Institute’s Innovation for Conservation program, is pleased to offer habitat preservation projects that are preapproved for compliance with the Habitat Exchange Imperative. Over time and as campaigns are successful, we will continue to add new opportunities for participation.

* There is a minimum offset of 0.4 hectare/1.0 acre per project.

The Bismark Meadows Grizzly Habitat Protection Project, Vital Ground

 The claws of grizzly bears have a formidable reputation. Up to four inches long, these claws are exposed to extremely high loads when bears dig, defend, and devour. It turns out the shape of these claws has very special properties, with implications for design, engineering, and architecture. The claw’s concave contour is a logarithmic curve characterized by a constant stress state, with no point more susceptible to failure than any other, and with no superfluous material in the claw itself. This profile has become a model for mechanical shape optimization of strength-to-weight ratios, impacting the way people design everything from furniture to automotive parts.

 This project aims to protect critical habitat and connectivity for grizzly bears living in northern Idaho, and help preserve healthy populations of this extraordinary creature in perpetuity. Living Building Challenge projects can fulfill their Habitat Exchange requirements by supporting this project at the cost of $5,033 per acre.

Read more about the non-profit organization Vital Ground and their Bismark Meadows project, or contact Sam Stier, Manager of the Innovation for Conservation Fund (sam [at] biomimicryinstitute [dot] org), to learn how to make a contribution.

The Redwood Creek Watershed Protection Project, Save the Redwoods League

Coastal redwood forests are an inspiration to walk through, in part because the redwood trees that comprise these forests are one of the tallest species in the world, growing taller than the Statue of Liberty. Trees such as coastal redwoods are teaching people how to develop more sustainable technologies, including how to move water without pumps through cities and fields, generate solar energy without creating toxic manufacturing waste, and provide new ideas on optimizing materials for strength.

This project aims to protect and restore both coastal redwoods and their close relative, the giant sequoias, in two spectacular regions: within Del Norte Coast Redwoods State and National Parks in Northern California, and directly adjacent to Calaveras Big Trees State Park in the Sierra Mountains. Living Building Challenge projects can fulfill their Habitat Exchange requirements by supporting this project at the cost of $3,572 per acre.

Read more about the non-profit organization Save the Redwoods League and their Redwood Creek Watershed project, or contact Sam Stier, Manager of the Innovation for Conservation Fund (sam [at] biomimicryinstitute [dot] org), to learn how to make a contribution.