Burrowed Grounds

The Chinese/American team of Catherine Valverde, Youzi Xu, and Elizabeth Servito won landscape architecture journal LA+’s design competition CREATURE with an entry focusing on the California tiger salamander. Their entry, Buried Grounds, redesignis a golf course to restore habitat lost to urban development. Long-disappeared vernal pools are provided to the salamanders, making up constructed wetlands in a master-planned watershed. Rerouted human paths protect habitats from foot traffic and underpasses protect animals and humans alike from transecting highway traffic.