Gunderson Dedicates Second Habitat Roof

Portland City Commissioner Dan Saltzman and Gunderson LLC General Manager Mark Eitzen dedicated a 2,400 sq ft habitat roof July 23 at the Gunderson facility on Front Avenue. 

This continues Gunderson's efforts to determine the habitat value that can be created on such roofs. The roof was fabricated and erected by Gunderson's workers and is almost two and a half times the size of the first such roof dedicated in June 2011.

Eitzen said, "This roof is expanding our knowledge of what we can do on-site to improve habitat and the quality of our storm water discharge through use of habitat roofs. Our work here builds on the foundation of knowledge developed through the nationally recognized Ecoroof Program at the City of Portland's Bureau of Environmental Services (BES)."

The Gunderson habitat roof incorporates design information from the BES Ecoroof Handbook. The design and plantings of the roof also benefited from collaboration with the dedicated members of the local Greenroof Info Think-tank.

Gunderson is leading the way in establishing habitat roofs in an industrial setting. Design and fabrication of a third habitat roof project is underway and will be the first to convert part of an existing structure. Gunderson will use its experience with the first three roofs to determine the feasibility of establishing habitat value on a portion of the 900,000+ sq ft of existing roof area at the site.