Hire Landforce

Past projects

Trails, rain gardens, play spaces and habitat work across Allegheny County — what the client asked for, what the crew built, and what changed.

Trails

Crouse Run Nature Reserve

Client
Pine Creek Land Conservation Trust

Goal
Remove and replace 80 foot bog bridge, rehabilitate degraded trails, and construct a new trail.

Work completed
Landforce crews were able to construct 1,400 feet of new trail, rehabilitate and maintain another 2,000 feet of existing trail, complete the demolition of a rotted out bog bridge, and construct a new one in eight days time. This project also involved removing invasive weeds and downed trees as well as some tree pruning.

Outcome
With the trail work provided by Landforce the nature reserve at Crouse Run now has a complete trail traversing the perimeter of the property and passing through the remaining foundation of the former Wildwood streetcar station along the Pittsburgh, Harmony, Butler, and New Castle Railway.
Vacant land

Phipps HomeGrown

Client
Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens

Goal
Construct and install new raised garden beds and expand existing garden beds.

Work completed
10 garden beds were installed or expanded including soil, compost, mulch, and weed blocking fabric.

Outcome
Landforce assisted Phipps with their goal of increased access to fresh produce through home gardening though the assembly and installation of raised garden beds in the Homewood neighborhood.
Vacant land

Clairton Play Spaces

Client
GTECH Strategies

Goal
Create interactive play areas from formerly unused and vacant lots in Clairton.

Work completed
A 105 square foot garden area was created, 6 interactive play features were installed along with a gravel pathway, a 70 foot span of fence, and 4 picnic tables.

Outcome
Through this vacant lot improvement project a gathering spot was created for neighborhood use which encourages relaxation and play. The lot engages the eyes as well as the spirit through its colorful presentation and inviting atmosphere.
Stormwater

Homewood North Rain Garden

Client
Storm Works (Nine Mile Run Watershed Association) and the Housing Authority of the City of Pittsburgh

Goal
Create a Rain Garden to capture stormwater from the Housing Authority site.

Work completed
Landforce manually excavated a 200 square foot area, created a connection with downspouts to the rain garden, and planted 3 trees, 15 shrubs, and 78 perennial flowers.

Outcome
Storm Works anticipates that over 42,000 gallons of stormwater will be captured and diverted from storm drains due to the installation of this green infrastructure feature which sits at the highest point in Homewood.
Trails

Emerald View Park

Client
Mount Washington Community Development Corporation (MWCDC)

Goal
Start implementing a 20 mile trail plan that was created by the MWCDC and Environmental Planning and Design, Ltd., a landscape architecture firm with extensive knowledge and experience in trail design, in 2010.

Work completed
Emerald View Park is Pittsburgh’s newest regional park. It includes 257 acres of land that was previously cleared of trees, used for mining and as an illegal dump site. Operating as Emerald Trail Corps, a program of the Mount Washington CDC, our first project was to construct a mile long trail on Mount Washington’s steep slopes.

Outcome
To date, crews have built 8 miles of trails, removed dumped garbage weighing in the hundreds of tons, and planted hundreds of trees in the park.
Trails

Bear Run

Client
Western Pennsylvania Conservancy (WPC)

Goal
Extensively reroute trail approximately 3 miles from the trailhead within Bear Run State Park.

Work completed
At the work site, we moved massive rocks to reinforce a chronically wet section of the trail. We also created a dry crossing over several active springs while armed only with hand tools.

Outcome
The level and quality of our work during this project allowed Bear Run to accomplish their project goals ahead of schedule. We then moved to another work site within the park, maximizing the value the park received from our services.
Trails

South Side Park

Client
South Side Slopes Neighborhood Association (SSNA)

Goal
Improve the quality and connectivity of South Side Park’s deteriorating and fragmented trails.

Work completed
During the project, we were able to rehabilitate overgrown and deteriorated trails and to create new, sustainable trails which connected the north part of the park to the southern and western ends of the park.

Outcome
Our increased crew size allowed us to remove several illegal dumpsites, clear away hundreds of invasive vines, and reroute existing trails away from chronically wet and sensitive areas to more suitable terrain.
Habitat

Dead Man’s Hollow

Client
Allegheny Land Trust (ALT)

Goal
Complete trail construction and maintenance outlined in a master trail plan created by Pashek Associates, a landscape architecture firm with extensive knowledge and experience in trail design.

Work completed
Operating as the MWCDC’s Emerald Trail Corps, we were able to follow the master trail plan created by Pashek Associates to build close to 1.25 miles of new trail across the rolling hillsides that border the Youghiogheny River. We were also able to repair two bridges and implement several trail reroutes and rebuilds.

Outcome
Before we were done with the three week project, we had begun to meet several enthusiastic trail users from dog walkers to mountain bikers, all of whom were eager to see our finished product and to use what we had recently completed.