Landscape Design students from Kalamazoo Valley Community College complete beautification project for Kalamazoo/Battle Creek International Airport

Kalamazoo Valley Community College students in the Landscape Design program have completed the first steps of a beautification project for the Kalamazoo/Battle Creek International Airport. The project entailed creating a new designed landscape for travelers to enjoy as they come and go from the airport.

According to an article on Kalamazoo Valley Community College’s website, instructor Sara Tanis, Ph.D. explained how the project came to fruition. Tanis initially met Anton Bjorkman, the deputy director of operations and maintenance at the Kalamazoo/Battle Creek International Airport, during her presentation to the Downtown Development Authority about her new sustainable horticulture program back in April of 2023. During her presentation, Tanis appealed to the community members present, seeking spaces in which her students might be able to get hands-on horticultural practice. Bjorkman suggested that the airport might serve as a perfect project spot for Tanis and her students. After meeting with Bjorkman and the airport’s director Craig Williams in order to gauge the desired landscaping criteria, Tanis had a plan to bring back to her students.

"They had some conditions. We could only use plants that were bird 'unfriendly' - no berries, no seeds, as well as nothing that attracted wildlife or grew too tall,” said Tanis. She also explained that there was no irrigation system in place, which would mean certain types of plants would not be available. “I knew it would take a pretty special group of drought-tolerant plants to make it work," she said.

The landscape design students then had the opportunity to spend the semester planning, developing, and drafting a plan for the airport’s landscaping. The students spent the first part of the semester learning about different types of plants that would be suitable to meet the airport’s criteria. Then, the students began to visit the airport, discuss needs and wants with the airport staff, and began creating their own individual plans for the space. Later, the individual plans were all combined into one workable design to be implemented.

Bjorkman said of the students visiting and creating designs, "They all asked really great questions. They wanted to tour the inside of the airport to try and match some of the building's interior aesthetics to their outside designs - which really impressed me."

The actual planting won’t occur until September, due to the lack of irrigation system, so the project will be handed off to Tanis’ urban horticulture students in the fall, who will take the landscape design students’ plans and carry them out. Tanis believes many of the students who worked on the initial plans as landscape design students will get to be involved again as urban horticulture students. Students in Tanis’ classes for years to come will carry out the upkeep of the airport’s landscaping.

"The students have a real sense of ownership and pride. They are very excited to be part of the community and to have family or friends fly in and out of the airport and know that they had a part in making it beautiful,” said Tanis.

Bjorkman is glad the partnership came to fruition. He said, "It's an amazing fit and mutually beneficial partnership. It will reduce some of the maintenance and upkeep for our staff, who are responsible for maintaining the airfield grounds, while allowing the students to master their skills."

For more information about Kalamazoo Valley Community College, visit the school’s website.