Mahogany Ridge Resort Community Driggs and Victor, Idaho

Reconciling the health of the whole Ecological System (the Community, ‘Nature’, and the Developer)

Mahogany Ridge Resort was planned as a 1,000-unit resort community within a 3,500 acre site at the top of the Teton River Valley. Located on an alluvial fan at the base of the Big Hole Mountains, the site was comprised primarily of economically unviable farmland. Despite the struggling farm community’s support of the project, local opposition to any development or changes to the site was strong. Many of those opposing the project treasured the viewshed it offered as farmland during the 3-4 months when it was not covered in snow; others feared it would disrupt migrating sand hill cranes. The project as initially proposed did not meet conventionally endorsed 'green' planning practices: farmland was lost, golf courses were planned, and despite a large percentage of open space preserved, it did not fit Smart Growth criteria (1). What the opponents (most of whom were relative newcomers to the area) did not realize was that this was an increasingly deteriorating landscape that hosted much less than its former biological richness. Unless the existing pattern of use was changed, this landscape would be less and less able to support life. This was due to the intense irrigation and farming practices that had broken the connectivity between the mountains and the river: the stream had become intermittent, the water table became lowered, ground and surface water was polluted, wildlife corridors were broken due to impeded migratory patterns, and fish were no longer able to spawn in the upper reaches of the streams.

An Integral Assessment of the whole valley identified the role this land and habitat had once performed in the larger ecosystem before farming and other nearby developments degraded its various ecological functions. The Story of Place depicted how the land's former role had created the rich diversity and productivity that had once existed. It also explained the benefits of restoring that role for all the communities, human and natural.

One of the core patterns of this alluvial fan revealed by the assessment was that of a “living bridge” supporting multiple nutrient and wildlife flows and exchanges between the mountains to the west and the Teton River to the east. It further revealed how the imposition of monoculture agriculture on the alluvial fan had severely disrupted this core pattern and nearly destroyed the original ecological abundance of all three distinct ecological systems: the mountain, alluvial fan, and river system. Preservation of the existing farmland would continue the degenerative cycle, which raised the question: what nature of development would serve as a regenerative force?

A new project concept for Mahogany Ridge emerged out of the understanding of the core place pattern. The new concept used the development of the land to restore the living bridge through regenerating severely simplified and destabilized ecosystems. Principles, goals and opportunities addressing community planning, material flows, energy, community, buildings, wildlife and a place-sourced economy were developed from the Integral Assessment and Story of Place as guides for the design, construction and ongoing engagement of homeowners and neighboring community residents. These were key in shaping the revised masterplan which called for the development of homes in tight clusters, producing additional revenue that would pay for the restoration of the stream and habitat corridors that originally connected the Teton River and the mountains while providing wildlife corridors as well as many ecosystem services for community residents.

Existing farming practices were using all surface water, and pumping significant amounts of groundwater. When the project is fully built out (a highly unlikely outcome), its ecological impacts on the local water system would be significantly less than the previous agricultural practices: community surface water use would cease, ground water use would be 30% of the amount being used by agriculture, and use of pesticides would cease. The golf courses were re- envisioned with all of the roughs becoming habitat and forage during the brief growing season, and both links and roughs serving as wildlife corridors throughout the year. Opportunities were identified for integration of the local community and project residents into the development and management of these systems, toward growing a more diversified local economy. A Community Stewardship Organization and active Home Owners’ Association education and action programs would engage the homeowners in developing, managing and re-designing the reconnection of these nutrient and wildlife flows through time, becoming sources for the ongoing regeneration and development of potential of the site while insuring the provision of ecosystem services for the community. (Biohabitats et al, 2008)

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(1) These Smart Growth criteria were primarily developed and employed in other places with different inherent qualities, different population pressures, different economic and social constraints, and entirely different potential.