Google Tries to Restore Native Habitats in Silicon Valley

<p>Vast oak woodlands punctuated with lush willow groves once stretched from Palo Alto to San Jose and beyond&comma; long before the rise of Silicon Valley&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Centuries of agricultural intensification and urbanization have transformed these landscapes&comma;” says Erin Beller&comma; Google’s ecology program lead who studied Silicon Valley’s ecological history and restoration potential for her PhD&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;We’ve lost over 99&percnt; of these valuable native habitats&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Now&comma; Google’s real estate and ecology teams are working to bring nature back into the built environment — in part&comma; by restoring critical habitats like oak woodlands and willow groves across our Bay Area campuses&period; The goal is to revive the area’s ecological heritage and bolster the human experience while creating thriving&comma; functional landscapes for a biodiverse constellation of species&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Already&comma; the team has restored over 15 acres on Google’s campuses and in the surrounding urban landscape&comma; in partnership with local NGOs&comma; ecology experts and government agencies&period; This work includes everything from creating welcoming habitat patches for pollinators like native bees and monarch butterflies to partnering on larger projects like restoring the Charleston Retention Basin&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Thanks to Google’s willow grove restoration initiatives like those around the Charleston Retention Basin and on the Bayview and Charleston East campuses&comma; there are more places for migratory songbirds to rest and find food to replenish their energy en route&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>At the Charleston Retention Basin — home to one of the largest willow groves in the region — there are new trails&comma; seats and lookout points so people can immerse themselves in the outdoors and appreciate the biodiversity around them&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In addition to projects in the Bay Area&comma; Google’s ecology team has urban greening projects in the works across several of the company&&num;8217&semi;s campuses&comma; including in the heart of London&comma; Munich and New York&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Nature and people should be able to flourish together in the campuses and communities that Google calls home&comma;” says Beller&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>This work is part of a bigger global movement&period; The idea that nature in cities is crucial for both people and wildlife is taking root&comma; and high-profile projects like London’s National Park City to The High Line of New York have brought it into the public consciousness&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;We know that access to nature has profound benefits for human health and wellbeing&comma;” says Kate Turpin&comma; director of design performance for Google’s real estate development team&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;It can be a place of refuge&comma; from a hot day or the busy pace of working life&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;