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Mountaintop Discovery GardensA student-led garden plan

Planning phase. An independent plan; nothing is funded or built yet. Not an official project of, or endorsed by, Lehigh University. What “planning phase” means

Planning phase

Mountaintop Discovery Gardens

A student-led plan for a native-plant, food and learning garden on Lehigh University’s Mountaintop Campus, where students, staff and visiting classes could learn outdoors and grow food.

See the pilot planDownload the plan PDF (3 pages, 1.5 MB)
Illustrative aerial view looking north across the East Summit Lawn beside Iacocca Hall: a possible pilot garden with raised edible beds, a planted rain garden, curved outdoor-classroom benches and a pergola inside a pale accessible loop path, set in a flowering meadow ringed by forest, with an optional high tunnel and a long-term teaching greenhouse and orchard, which would need site permission, studies, funding and upkeep. A chip in the top-left corner reads “Illustration · not a design · planning phase”.
Illustration, not a design. Labeled viewFull-size image

Credits: USGS, USDA NAIP, © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), Microsoft, Overture Maps.

In short

Version 4, 20 October 2026, based on the plan PDF v3. Every location and size is preliminary and unverified.

What it is. A proposed accessible garden with a native pollinator meadow, edible demonstration beds, an outdoor classroom, a rain garden and compost. It would start as a pilot of 0.5 to 1 acre and could grow only if the pilot works, with site permission, soil and utility studies, funding and a year-round maintenance plan.

Where. Lehigh University's Mountaintop Campus. The pilot, about 0.74 acre, is illustrated on the East Summit Lawn beside Iacocca Hall. A desktop study found three possible study areas. None has been offered, and no tree removal is proposed.

Who it would help. Students, faculty, staff and visiting classes: a place to learn outdoors and grow food, with accessible paths and raised beds. It would also be habitat for pollinators and birds.

Status. Shared with university offices for feedback. No site permission, sponsor or funding; costs not yet estimated.

What it needs. The university's view and, in time, its written permission; a sponsor and a faculty advisor; soil tests before any food is grown; and year-round care.

Next step. Hear back from the university on whether a garden fits its plans and whether any study area could be considered.

Lehigh facts were checked only through search results. Sources: the plan PDF and the project website.

Illustrated pilot
≈0.74 acreWithin a 0.5–1 acre pilot range, about 190 × 170 ft
Possible study areas
3About 7 acres of open ground in total, in separate pieces
Long-term possibility
≈6 acresOnly with site permission, studies, funding and upkeep

Read more

The plan in pictures

Illustrations and maps made for the plan, using public maps, elevation data and aerial imagery. They are not designs. Every location, size and dimension is preliminary and unverified.

Credits: USGS, USDA NAIP, © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), Microsoft, Overture Maps.

Where things stand

  • The full plan is set out in a three-page PDF (revised 21 October 2026). Download the plan PDF (v3, 3 pages, 1.5 MB).
  • The plan has been shared with university offices for feedback. We are waiting to hear back.
  • Nothing is built, and there is no site permission, sponsor or funding. No work of any kind is happening on campus.

One simple philosophy

Make essential things simpler, more accessible, less wasteful, and affordable or free wherever practical.

  • Simpler

    Fewer steps, easy to run and easy to maintain.

  • More accessible

    Physically, with accessible routes and raised beds; financially; and with clear information.

  • Less wasteful

    Careful with materials, water, energy, food and land.

  • Affordable or free where practical

    Aim to be free to visit and use, subject to Lehigh’s access rules, with real costs and who pays stated openly once they are known.

Added after the plan PDF: a later idea for discussion, not a commitment. One long-term aim, not a promise: a future where money matters much less, and what counts is people and the work they do together.

Explore the plan