Documents & sources
The plan and where it comes from
Most of this site comes from the three-page plan PDF (v3) and the public data behind it. The philosophy statement, the Food & Community page, the volunteer roles and ideas, and the candidate plant list are later ideas that are not in the PDF. Download it, check the sources, and tell us if anything is wrong.
Preliminary plan (v3, 3 pages), revised 21 October 2026. Letter-size landscape, made for screen and print.
Short on time? See the summaries below.
Summaries
Summary (web page)
A short read: what the garden would be, where, who it would help, what it needs and the next step.
Plan summary (web page)
A longer read: the study areas, the pilot, nature and food safety, the phases and their conditions, and what the garden would need.
Executive summary (PDF, 1 page, 86 KB)
The Summary page’s text on one printable page, with the status line at the top. Its version and date are on the page.
One-page summary (PDF, 0.3 MB)
One-page summary (v2, 21 October 2026). A printable page based on the plan PDF, with the same “Planning phase” label.
The full plan (PDF, 1.5 MB)
Preliminary plan (v3, 3 pages), revised 21 October 2026. The summaries are based on it.
Versions
v3 · 19 October 2026
Status wording and conditions only: the plan now says “Planning phase”. Facts and figures are the same as v2. On 20 October 2026, site-permission, studies, funding and upkeep conditions were added to Phase 4 and the long-term timing. On 21 October 2026, the blank contact line on sheet 3 became a pointer to the website’s Contact page, and the maps and illustration were redrawn more smoothly, with less text in the pictures and the legends and notes beside them. No facts changed.
v2 · 17 October 2026
Wording updated after checking Lehigh facts through search results (pages not opened directly): the BC Lawn name, the 2021 meadow’s unconfirmed location, Forest Park acreage and research plots, the campus-plan question (now naming its Mountaintop open-space and graduate-housing ideas), and the Community Garden’s management.
v1 · 17 October 2026
First three-page plan PDF, shared for initial discussion.
Data sources
USDA National Agriculture Imagery Program (NAIP), via USGS US Topo
NAIP imagery from September–December 2017, as embedded in the USGS US Topo 7.5′ Hellertown and Allentown East quadrangles (2023 editions). Public domain. Accessed 17 Oct 2026.
U.S. Geological Survey, National Elevation Dataset
1/9 arc-second DEM tile ned19_n40x75_w075x50_pa_northeast_2010 (published 2011), NAVD88. Approximate and not surveyed. Accessed 17 Oct 2026.
Buildings, roads and power line
Overture Maps Foundation
Release 2026-09-23.1, including © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), Microsoft ML Buildings (ODbL) and, on the campus locator map, some building outlines from Esri Community Maps contributors (CC BY 4.0). Accessed 17 Oct 2026.
Change check (vegetation index)
Copernicus Sentinel-2 (European Space Agency)
Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2018–2026). Sentinel-2 Level-2A NDVI time series, 10 m resolution. Accessed 17 Oct 2026.
Study-area outlines
Student project team
Hand-interpreted from the aerial imagery, accurate to roughly ±3–5 m. Not parcels and not surveyed.
Lehigh-related pages referenced
Making the Future: A Plan for the Lehigh Campus — Executive Summary
Lehigh University Facilities
Dated July 2025.
Lehigh Office of Strategic Planning and Initiatives
A key initiative of the strategic plan Inspiring the Future Makers (2023).
2025 Progress Report on Campus Operations
Lehigh Office of Sustainability
Reports that part of a maintained Mountaintop lawn became native meadow in summer 2021.
Mountaintop Venues and Amenities
Lehigh University, Mountaintop
Describes an event lawn at the circle outside Building C, capacity 500+. Search results gave its name as “BC Lawn” in one place and “LAWN” in another; the page itself has not been read, so the site says “the lawn beside Building C”.
Lehigh University Facilities
Describes about 760 acres of Lehigh-owned land on South Mountain.
Forest Park to open first trail on South Mountain
The Brown and White
2 April 2026. Reports a Lehigh lab maintains 16 long-term forest research plots on Mountaintop.
Lehigh Auxiliary Services
Lehigh’s transit pages describe the Iacocca Hall stop as a transfer hub.
Lehigh Office of Sustainability
On Goodman Campus; managed by the Office of Sustainability with a gardener steering committee.
Questions for the university
- Is a Mountaintop garden compatible with Making the Future and Transform Mountaintop? Could any of Areas 1–3 be considered?
- Who would sponsor and own the garden, and who maintains it year-round?
- Water and power availability, soil testing, and the accessibility approach.
- Pilot scope (0.5–1 ac) and footprint; where the 2021 meadow is, and how the lawn beside Building C and that meadow should be treated.
- Funding route for the pilot and a cost estimate prepared with Facilities.
- Permit and delivery path: city zoning and stormwater, state erosion-control thresholds, Facilities-engaged designers and contractors.
- Whether the ≈6 ac long-term vision is worth a further study.
Limits of this work
- All areas, elevations and dimensions are approximate desktop estimates, not survey data.
- The aerial imagery dates from 2017; conditions on the ground may have changed.
- Study areas are not parcels and do not show ownership, availability or site permission.
- Costs are not yet estimated. Ranges would be prepared with Lehigh Facilities from verified unit costs. Benefits are described qualitatively.
- Not included: ideas for an underground museum or transit station are speculative. No supporting source was found, so they are part of neither the pilot nor the long-term vision.
Credits and licenses
- Maps and plans: drawn by the student team over public-domain USDA NAIP imagery (via USGS), with buildings, roads, water and power line © OpenStreetMap contributors, available under the Open Database License, via Overture Maps. Some building outlines on the campus locator map are from Esri Community Maps contributors (CC BY 4.0).
- Illustrative rendering: a stylized 3D illustration built from USGS elevation data, with trees approximated from 2017 aerial imagery. Illustrative only; not a design.
- Typeface: Barlow by Jeremy Tribby, used under the SIL Open Font License 1.1.
- OpenStreetMap data is available under the Open Database License: openstreetmap.org/copyright.
- This website and its text are by the student team behind the plan. No Lehigh University logos, seals or other marks are used.