Bees & Trees
At Quantum Loophole we love nature. You’ll find us surfing, skiing, hiking volcanos, swimming in rivers riding bikes and regularly sharing photos of the beauty and power of nature. We applaud the awesome power of nature to regenerate and heal. Our Quantum Frederick site will commit over 15% of the land to nature and open space.
As climate changes and loss of habitat diminish natural ecosystems, it is more important than ever to support the many beneficial species that are threatened. According to the USDA, pollinators are essential to one third of human food crops as well as wild plant life propagation. Pollinators such as bees, butterflies, beetles, birds, and bats have been especially hard-hit by modern farming techniques that rely on toxic pesticides, harming these beneficial creatures that help foster rich biodiverse ecosystems.
The QL Bees & Trees initiative is the Quantum Loophole action plan to build habitat for pollinators.
QL Bees and Trees means:
- Planting trees and pollinating plants
- Creating habitat favorable to pollinators
- Building biodiversity
- Monitoring success
Modern data center and digital infrastructure companies have an opportunity to lead the way in vital pollinator habitat restoration efforts. A well-planned data center community has ample space for nature, thus the Quantum Loophole objective is to enable our communities to be thriving native naturescapes.
Working with groups like the Global Tree Initiative (GTI), an organization focused on advancing global efforts in reforestation, Quantum Loophole advocates for rebuilding forest ecosystems locally at a global scale.
Bees & Trees at Quantum Frederick
The first action at QL’s Frederick, Maryland site was to plant native species trees to build a tree canopy and create understory habitat. In doing so, we’ve tagged these trees so we can monitor their growth and success. As we move forward on this site, we have carved out dedicated land for open space and afforestation projects that will revitalize the local ecosystem and provide support for pollinators and other native plants and animals.
Hand in hand with construction, our plans include resilient storm water management and abundant afforestation. We plan apiaries and other habitat support for pollinators and other important creatures. And central to afforestation efforts is planting native trees but also a variety of native plants.
Berms & Trees Development
Quantum Loophole prioritizes and implements environmental planning to minimize the impact to the local ecology, including specimen trees (trees 30” or greater in diameter) and sensitive aquatic resources. Environmental strategies are employed to reduce the impact to sensitive features including efficient road patterns, repurposing existing infrastructure, and parallel utility corridors.
Our Preliminary Forest Conservation Plan addresses the forest conservation mitigation requirements for a 1,054-acre area that contains 64 acres of existing forest. We plan to put 55 acres of that forest into a permanent forest easement. In addition, the site contains 219 specimen trees. Our plan is to retain and protect 192 of those specimen trees. Our plan proposes additional mitigation by planting 121 acres of forest, bringing the total forest conservation to 176 acres, on a site that started with 64 acres of forest.
Other impact avoidance and minimization efforts include significant forest retention, the protection of environmentally sensitive areas (waterbody buffer, wetlands and buffers, streams, steep slopes and the 100year floodplain, large tracts, or contiguous forest), and planting all waterbody buffers feasible to plant, creating a surplus of afforestation area for future use and ecological benefit.
Our tree planting priorities:
- Design around trees.
- Relocate trees where possible.
- Harvest trees for onsite reuse when 1 or 2 are not options.
- Plant multifold more trees through afforestation and our berms and trees initiative.
Berms are earthen mounds of soil and compost that help control water flows. Berms with trees can help shield the exterior community from the sites and sounds of the data center. Using native trees provides natural viewscapes and compliments the local ecology.
The idea and result is critical digital infrastructure that exists among and in harmony with the land and ecology we share as residents, employees, and developers.