Otak Blog

The Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM’s) National Landscape Conservation System (NLCS) is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. The NLCS brought into a single system specially designated areas managed on a landscape level under the BLM’s multiple-use mandate. The Symposium, held in Albuquerque, New Mexico provided an interdisciplinary forum for exploring research related to the NLCS units, such as national monuments and wild and scenic rivers. Treasured landscapes across the nation include 886 federally recognized areas, approximately 27 million acres, and 8,425 miles of rivers and national trails.

Kate Schwarzler, landscape architect in Otak’s Carbondale office, presented a poster paper about using color for visual mitigation as an effective, relatively simple, and cost-effective tool for visual mitigation. The poster demonstrated two techniques for integrating color into visual mitigation practices. The first and most common technique for blending facilities into the surrounding landscape is the application of a single color of paint. The second technique is the use of camouflage, where multiple colors are applied in an organic pattern.

Kate’s poster for the NLCS Symposium