Turning Inside Out Pool Landscaping

Experts say more and more locals head onto large patios and decks, into pools and onto intricately landscaped lawns.

Last summer, Christine and Joseph DeLeo added an in-ground pool to the yard of their Hollidaysburg home. It was an addition that they had wanted since moving into their home four years ago.

According to local experts, the DeLeos have hit two of the big three elements of outdoor spaces — pools, patios and decks and landscaping.

Pools are a key component of many outdoor spaces, says Bob Sutton, co-owner of Holiday Pools & Spas in Duncansville.

“(Some) people will do their whole yard over when they put in an in-ground pool — landscaping and a little shed or something to store things in,” he says. “Above-grounds are usually not as elaborate, but they’re still building a shed or doing some landscaping. The pool becomes the centerpiece of their backyard.”

‘‘What we do is kind of the backyard/outdoor room concept,’’ says Steve Martin, owner of Tussey Mountain Landscaping in Hollidaysburg. ‘‘That varies from small to grand.’’

Martin, who has been doing landscaping for 18 years, says he’s seen the business boom.

‘‘I think you’re seeing growth in it every year,’’ Martin says. ‘‘But in that last five years there seems to be more emphasis (on landscaping).’’

Tussey Mountain also does more traditional landscaping, with elaborate lighting, stone paths, concrete walkways and pads and plants and trees.

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Tuesday, June 10th, 2008

Landscaping Rock, Pool Landscaping No Comments

Grand Canyon Flood Created New Sandbars

The Grand Canyon boasts new sandbars ranging in size from small nooks and crannies to ones as large as football fields, the results of a manmade flood designed to nourish the ecosystem of the Colorado River, an official said.

“On a couple of big sandbars there were already beaver tracks, bighorn sheep tracks,” Grand Canyon National Park Superintendent Steve Martin said. “You could see the animals already exploring new aspects of the old canyon.”

The three-day flood last week was designed to redistribute and add sediment to the 277-mile river in the Grand Canyon, where the ecosystem was forever changed by the construction of a dam more than four decades ago.

The sediment provides a habitat for plants and animals, builds beaches for campers and river runners and helps protect archaeological sites from erosion and weathering.

But since 1963, the Glen Canyon Dam just south of the Arizona-Utah state line has blocked the sediment from the Colorado downstream, turning the once muddy and warm river into a cool, clear environment that helped speed the extinction of four fish species and push two others near the edge.

Martin, who returned on Tuesday from a five-day trip down the river to see the initial impacts of the flood, said even the ambience of the canyon has changed.

“It changes the feeling of the canyon as you see the sediment along the shoreline from a feeling of increased sterility to one of a greater amount of vibrance,” he said. “The benefits are substantial.”

During the flood, flows in the Grand Canyon increased to 41,000 cubic feet per second for nearly three days _ four to five times the normal amount of water released from the Glen Canyon Dam. Water levels along the river rose between 2 and 15 feet and left sediment behind when the four giant steel tubes releasing the water from the dam were closed.

Officials released similar manmade floods into the canyon in 1996 and in 2004.

But those floods actually resulted in a net reduction in overall sandbar size because they were conducted when the Colorado River was relatively sand-depleted, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Officials believe this year’s flood will be beneficial because sand levels in the river are at a 10-year high and are three times greater than 2004 levels.

Whatever benefits come from this year’s flood, however, will be eroded within 18 months without additional floods every year to 18 months depending on the amount of sediment available, Martin said.

In its environmental assessment on Glen Canyon Dam releases, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation calls for no other high-flow releases until after 2012.

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Saturday, March 15th, 2008

Landscaping Rock No Comments

Manmade flood unleashed in Grand Canyon

PAGE, Ariz. Twin torrents of water unleashed from a dam coursed through the Grand Canyon today in a flood meant to mimic the natural ones that used to nourish the ecosystem by spreading sediment and creating river beaches.

“This gives you a glimpse of what nature has been doing for millions of years, cutting through and creating this magnificent canyon,” Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne said after he pulled the lever releasing the water from Glen Canyon Dam, upstream from Grand Canyon National Park.

More than 300,000 gallons of water per second were being released from Lake Powell above the dam near the Arizona-Utah border. That’s enough water to fill the Empire State Building in 20 minutes, Kempthorne said.

The water gushed from the dam into the Colorado River below, creating a churning, frothy pool that glided past the salmon-colored sandstone walls of the canyon.

The dam is releasing four to five times its usual flow during the three-day flood. The water level in the canyon will only rise a few feet, but officials hope that will be enough to restore sandbars on the Colorado River downstream from the dam. Officials have flooded the canyon twice before, in 1996 and 2004.

Before the dam was built in 1963, the river was warm and muddy, and natural flooding built up sandbars that are essential to native plant and fish species. The river is now cool and clear, its sediment blocked by the dam.

The change helped speed the extinction of four fish species and push two others, including the endangered humpback chub, near the edge.

Shrinking beaches have led to the loss of half the camping sites in the canyon in the past decade. Since Glen Canyon Dam was built, 98 percent of the sediment carried by the Colorado River has been lost, Grand Canyon National Park Superintendent Steve Martin said.

Martin said man-made floods need to occur every time there’s enough sediment to do so about every one to two years depending on Arizona’s volatile monsoon season.

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Saturday, March 8th, 2008

Landscaping Rock No Comments

More Grand Canyon parking proposed

PHOENIX –Federal officials are considering plans to cut down several trees at Grand Canyon National Park to add hundreds of parking spots and ease traffic at the popular South Rim.

The park has only 1,200 parking spaces available during the day, and many visitors carve out their own spots along roadsides and cut through the forest as they make their way to the canyon edge.

During busy days, people entering the park must navigate past “300 or 400 cars parked along the roadside with a stream of traffic in pedestrians trying to use the road itself as a walkway,” Steve Martin, Grand Canyon National Park Superintendent, said Friday.

“It’s a somewhat unsafe and very chaotic experience right on the rim,” he said.

The National Park Service is exploring three proposals to change the traffic system for the nearly 4.4 million people who visit the area each year. Officials will ask for public comment in March.

Each plan would clear trees to make room for parking lots. They also would expand bicycle access to the community of offices, hotels and shops at the South Rim known as Grand Canyon Village. In addition, the plans call for shuttle bus access to Mather Point, one of the first places where people entering the park can see the canyon.

Park officials are also considering a plan that would leave the park unchanged.

National Park Regional Director Mike Snyder is expected to pick a plan in May.

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Sunday, February 17th, 2008

Landscaping Stone No Comments

Taylor needs big game to secure No 8 jersey

Its a number that has haunted Highlanders coaches and their fans in recent seasons.
The list of players who have been tried and have provided little ammunition in the No 8 jersey is lengthy.
It almost makes you dizzy when you take a minute to ponder some of the names.
Filipo Levi, Andrew Blowers and Craig Newby. Theyve had their crack in the past two seasons with the outcome little to write home about.
Ezra Taylor probably should also be included in that category but the 24-year-old has been given another shot to stake his claim in the Highlanders final pre-season hitout against the Blues in Dunedin tonight before the Super 14 kicks off next Friday.
Taylor took part in eight of the Highlanders Super 14 games last year with a mixed degree of success.
He didnt exactly set the world on fire during the Air New Zealand Cup for Otago last year with coach Steve Martin opting to use him as a lock rather than at No8 for the majority of his limited game time.
Hes back in 2008 and is holding the frontrunners card to be at the boot of the Highlanders scrum during this seasons Super 14 series.
What Taylor will bring to the Highlanders pack against the Blues tonight is a hard-nosed approach.
Its a quality Highlanders coach Glenn Moore has made clear he wants from his players, but whether thats enough to bring success this season will only be seen in time.
When you consider what New Zealands other four Super 14 franchises have up their sleeve in No 8s, its not hard to see the Highlanders lack plenty in this vital department.
Mose Tuialii (Crusaders), Rodney Sooialo (Hurricanes), Sione Lauaki (Chiefs) and Nick Williams (Blues) they are all big ball-carrying No 8s, and Taylor needs to show tonight that he can do the job.
He is going head to head with Steven Setephano for the No 8 jersey in the opening Super 14 game against the Queensland Reds in Brisbane next Friday night.
Setephano has transferred from Waikato and is an unknown quantity when it comes to professional rugby, but Moore said Setephanohas been part of the Chiefs wider training squad for three years.
With Setephano ruled out of tonights fixture because of injury Taylor is likely to have 80 minutes to push his case in front of the Highlanders selection team.
Along with Taylor, rookie Daniel Bowden will be tested tonight in the Highlanders first five-eighth role against Nick Evans, who will now face him, playing for the Blues.
Tonights pre-season showdown, which kicks off at 5pm, will give the Highlanders the ultimate test against quality opposition.

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Friday, February 8th, 2008

Garden Landscaping No Comments

Centuryold Grand Canyon gift shop to close

GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK, Ariz. — A century-old gift shop at the Grand Canyon will close in September, ending a family’s three-generation run that began with its patriarch selling souvenirs out of a tent in 1905.

The family-owned Verkamp’s Curios gift shop, which is on the more popular South Rim, did not reapply for a concession contract with the National Park Service, according to agency spokeswoman Pamela Walls.

A request for proposals for a concession contract was issued in July, and proposals were due Oct. 22.

Walls said the Park Service was considering whether to continue having another business run the gift shop or use the space for some other purpose.

Grand Canyon National Park Superintendent Steve Martin said in a statement that the Verkamp family’s contribution to the Grand Canyon National Park cannot be overstated.

“They have provided a service to millions of park visitors and residents over the last 102 years through their retail operation,” he said. “Family members were always considered more than just business people — they have been part of the fabric that has weaved this community together to help make this wonderful place what it is today.”

Among the items sold at the gift shop were items from local American Indian artists and regional traders. They included Navajo rugs, Hopi kachinas, Zuni fetishes, pottery, baskets and jewelry.

For more information about the store, visit http://verkamps.com/ .

Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Monday, January 21st, 2008

Backyard Landscaping No Comments


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