Assessing Lupine as an Environmental Conservation Tool in Iceland

Michels, William; Brown, Gabriel; Grandhi, Nishan; Foote, Tiffany

Student Work

Assessing Lupine as an Environmental Conservation Tool in Iceland

Public Deposited

Iceland's environment is highly prone to erosion and has conditions that make plant growth challenging. The plant lupine is a divisive solution to soil erosion and reforestation that has been found successful in some regions of Iceland but not all. We researched the issue through extensive document research, expert interviews from different perspectives, and surveys of native Icelanders, to get as complete and unbiased a picture of the issue as possible. We used this to create a decision guide that gives a comprehensive account any person in Iceland can use in order to choose what they would like to do to address soil conservation and reforestation issues on their land. Key issues the decision guide covers are soil conservation, reforestation, and removal of lupine. Along with the decision guide, we include a decisional balance sheet to show the pros and cons of lupine usage in Iceland and a plant infographic to teach about the plants in the decision guide. These tools can be used by land owners in Iceland to make decisions about restoration and reforestation on their land.

This report represents the work of one or more WPI undergraduate students submitted to the faculty as evidence of completion of a degree requirement. WPI routinely publishes these reports on its website without editorial or peer review.

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