MORGANTOWN, W.Va. West Virginia University graduate and owner of Morgantown-based Biafore Landscape Development, Michael Biafore, wants an open dialog with WVU officials about the statewide contributions made by landscape architecture. Biafore was appointed to the Landscape Architecture Licensing Board by then-Gov. Joe Manchin and has 25 years of business experience statewide.
Students and faculty from the WVU program regularly help communities across the state with land planning, park designs, streetscapes, and urban planning. Fees for services are based on actual direct costs, project scope, and time. These services would no longer be available to some of the smaller municipalities they serve, causing hardship in many cases due to unmet needs.
“We commit and donate countless hours to community involvement and community development across the state,” Biafore said. “The Landscape Architecture Department, over the last three years, has touched 30 communities in the state to help with community development, design, and their needs.”
On WAJR’s “Talk of the Town,” Biafore said he believes the WVU administration may not fully grasp the impact the Landscape Architect program has off campus. He believes the value added to local communities by these planning and management services is lost on the decision-makers at WVU.
“We need to put the brakes on this thing in the near future,” Biafore said. “So, there can be more dialog, more discussion, and analysis on how these programs affect not only the WVU budget but also the communities and the state.”
Biafore graduated in 1988 and worked in Washington, D.C., for the first 10 years of his career. As the economy improved, Biafore found his way back to Morgantown and the family business. Over the last two decades, Biafore said they have employed several landscape architects, and interns from the program have gained experience with his business. He fears a lack of qualified people if the program is cut.
“WVU has the only Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning degree in the state,” Biafore said. “If we eliminate that program, residents are going to go out of state for education in these fields, which means they’ll probably stay out of state when they look for jobs.”
Because we are an extraction state, landscape architects work with a variety of companies to perform critical tasks before, during, and after operations. Graduates from the program gain a wide range of technical expertise along with a philosophy of responsibility.
“Landscape architects work for engineering companies, oil and gas companies, and coal companies to make sure that the environmental impact is minimized or properly planned for in the beginning and, after the fact, habitat land use is restored,” Biafore said.
Biafore said the 1862 definition of a land-grant university was to teach agriculture, science, military science, and engineering—nearly all the components of the landscape architecture program at WVU.
“We do have courses in civil engineering and structural engineering, and we have courses in agriculture and horticulture,” Biafore said. “Science applies throughout the whole program, so we capture three out of the four main definitions of a land grant university, so it’s important that we maintain that status, I believe.”