Hannah Weas is a rising senior at UNC-Chapel Hill from Asheville, N.C. She is majoring in Environmental Studies with minors in GIS and Geological Sciences. During the 2025 spring semester Hannah participated in the Institute for the Environment’s semester-long Sustainable Triangle Field Site.
Sustainable Triangle Field Site
The Sustainable Triangle Field Site (STFS) is a unique opportunity provided by the university and supported by Sustainable Carolina in which students are immersed in various sustainability-related courses while working together on a semester-long capstone project. Through their combined research interests, students strengthen their understanding and individual skill sets to work toward tackling real-world sustainability challenges.
With course offerings including disciplines in urban planning, sustainable development, and various environmental topics, as well as practical experience working in internships with specialists, students have the ability to gain experience in many fields, interacting with stakeholders, conducting research, managing data and timelines, visiting relevant sites, and presenting their work. Overall, the STFS provides students with insights into how the university, local community, and other institutions can collaborate to create a sustainable future. During my time in the STFS and under the guidance of Dr. Antonia Sebastian and Dr. Marissa Webber, my peers and I analyzed the green space network across Chapel Hill and Carrboro, aiming to identify opportunities to enhance habitat connectivity in urban areas.
Project Development
To begin our capstone, Dr. Sebastian was clear that this project was ours as students, and we could take it wherever our interests led us. She introduced us to the fact that we had the unique opportunity to take a deeper look at the parks and green spaces in and around Chapel Hill, since the Town of Chapel Hill was preparing to review its 2013 Comprehensive Parks Plan.
Working closely with peers who brought diverse skill sets but shared a common passion for sustainability deepened my understanding of how essential teamwork and collaboration are, especially in the world of science and academia.
As a class, many of us were interested in this idea, as it allowed for the incorporation of many areas of our individual interests, such as GIS, transportation and accessibility, flooding and water management, resilience of communities, and how policy intersects with sustainability. Through consistent research and numerous discussions, we eventually narrowed our focus on natural areas around Chapel Hill and Carrboro due to their ecological and socioeconomic benefits and role in enhancing the resilience of urban areas, especially in terms of habitat connectivity. Our preliminary research revealed three key attributes determining a habitat’s ability to support biodiversity and provide ecosystem services: size, proximity, and quality. These categories became the foundation for our geospatial analysis.
Key Findings
Using data on land use/land cover, we identified 415 unique habitat patches within the Towns of Chapel Hill and Carrboro. We then assigned metrics to each patch related to its size, quality and proximity to manmade and natural features (e.g., roads, floodplains) using several publicly available geospatial datasets before evaluating their relative importance in the network based on composite ranking. Through our analysis, we found both strengths and vulnerabilities in the existing ecological network. Roughly 98% of patches were near roads, nearly 40% bordered floodplains, and very few patches were completely isolated from other green spaces. However, many patches had low habitat quality scores, and most had degraded or immature tree canopy cover. Additionally, most patches were mid-sized; the largest patches were on the periphery of our study area.
The final composite ranking revealed green space patches with the highest combined ecological value based on the size, proximity, and quality metrics, with top-scoring areas being Carolina North and Mason Farm Biological Reserve, respectively (Figure below).
We also pinpointed specific green spaces for their strategic role in urban connectivity and highlighted critical gaps where investment could strengthen the connected corridor across Chapel Hill and Carrboro’s greenspace network. These are indicated by the pink circles on our comprehensive map.
Policy Recommendations
Based on our research and analysis, the establishment of a connected network of valuable habitats became the key driver of our policy recommendations. Natalie Williams, the lead author of our policy brief, developed a range of strategies on different time scales. These included a short-term engagement strategy called “Homes and Habitats” which builds on the success of the “Leave Your Leaves” initiative and encourages people to make their yard as welcoming to local biodiversity as possible. The second, mid-range strategy suggests enhancing zoning to accommodate the ecological significance of certain areas. The last, long-term strategy encourages collaborative habitat connectivity planning, with potential partnerships with organizations such as the Triangle Connectivity Collaborative, Eno River Association, and more.
Total Experience
Overall, this experience was more than I could have hoped for coming into the STFS. While I was previously involved in a research project during a summer study abroad course, the opportunity to conduct beneficial and relevant research in my local community made this experience hit home for me. Working closely with peers who brought diverse skill sets but shared a common passion for sustainability deepened my understanding of how essential teamwork and collaboration are, especially in the world of science and academia. In creating this research project from the ground up with my classmates, I was challenged beyond my comfort zone.
I have learned from so many local experts in the environmental field, such as the Town of Chapel Hill’s Sustainability Manager, John Richardson, folks from UNC’s Institute for the Environment, and members from the Environmental Defense Fund, Southeast Regional Climate Center, and Triangle Connectivity Collaborative. My appreciation for research has immensely grown, and I truly feel like I have a holistic understanding of sustainability because of my research and coursework in this program. I know that the skills, knowledge, and experiences I have gained from the STFS are invaluable and will translate to wherever I end up in the future, and I am so grateful to have been a part of the work we produced.
To learn more or see our full research paper and policy brief, check out our website: https://tarheels.live/stfs25/
For more information about the UNC Institute for the Environment Field Sites visit: https://ie.unc.edu/field-education/field-sites/