The goal of this project it to install a Landscape Buffer along Curtis Road from First Street to the railroad tracks. The plan includes a double row of ornamental trees; seasonal color in spring, summer, fall; bird and pollinator habitat and support; and a low row of shrubs, perennials and ornamental grasses, to provide further aesthetic and wildlife benefit. The landscaping design was developed over the last few years, by three graduate students in the Landscape Architecture department in Fine and Applied Arts, under the direction of the University Landscape Architect (Brent Lewis). Once the landscaping is installed and the solar farm is built, this project team will offer tours, and use it as an educational site for classes and researchers. This has already been the case for Solar Farm 1.0, and we are eager to promote appropriate planting around solar arrays, which was a lesson learned from the first solar farm

In addition to the tours and class visits, this project will offer annual open houses for the solar farm, which will include a visit and overview of this landscaped buffer. The project team will also include it on the Pollinator Pockets map online, and host Bee Campus USA events there. Finally, contacts for the Illinois pollinator friendly solar farm act intend to use this site as a model and demonstration for other solar farms in the state.