EUGENE– University of Oregon student Dryden Jenny trundles a wheelbarrow filled with heavy basalt rocks down a gentle slope to the Millrace, a campus waterway that is home to dozens of wild ducks and geese. She heaves the heavy rocks into the stream alongside the bank to help secure it against the erosion that over the years has claimed nearly half an acre of adjacent land.

Nearby other UO students roll out large rolls of burlap-like fabric that will cover the muddy banks of the steam and form a stable nursery for the native plants they hope to re-establish here.

Jenny and the 14 other students enrolled in this design-build class are getting their first look at what it takes to transform studio drawings into an actual landscape.

"I came to the UO because I knew they emphasize both design and building," says second-year graduate student Matt Lanborn.

One of the lessons learned here is to expect surprises–like the viewing stand the students designed to nestle on the stream bank–it turned out to be larger than the space allowed. The student workers solved that by redesigning both the deck and the substructure to get the same result in a way that matched the actual on-site situation.

When the $30,000 project is complete, red willow, rushes and dogwood will replace the compressed clay and soil that now surrounds the Mill Race.

"Our goal is to stabilize the bank while elevating the ecology of the Mill Race," says Stan Jones, project coordinator and UO professor of landscape architecture. "The Mill Race has been subjected to many stresses that have caused the water quality to deteriorate. Pedestrians, a near-by parking lot–even the ducks– have taken their toll."

In addition to the viewing platform, which students hope will keep pedestrians away from the fragile stream banks, the students will build a series of small settling ponds to filter pollutants from an adjacent parking lot.

"Everyone wins here. The students get to see the connections between design and what it takes to make it happen. The university gets stream improvements and the community gets an esthetically and ecologically improved greenery," says Jones.

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