Brad Stewart Lancaster (born 1967) is an expert in the field of

rainwater harvesting Rainwater harvesting (RWH) is the collection and storage of rain, rather than allowing it to run off. Rainwater is collected from a roof-like surface and redirected to a Rainwater tank, tank, cistern, deep pit (well, shaft, or borehole), Aquifer s ...

and

water management Water resources are natural resources of water that are potentially useful for humans, for example as a source of drinking water supply or irrigation water. These resources can be either freshwater from natural sources, or water produced artificia ...

, sun & shade harvesting (

passive solar design Passive may refer to: * Passive voice, a grammatical voice common in many languages, see also Pseudopassive (disambiguation), Pseudopassive * Passive language, a language from which an interpreter works * Passivity (behavior), the condition of su ...

) and community-stewarded native food forestry. He is also a

permaculture Permaculture is an approach to land management and settlement design that adopts arrangements observed in flourishing natural ecosystems. It includes a set of design principles derived using Systems theory, whole-systems thinking. It applies t ...

teacher, designer, consultant, live storyteller and co-founder of the Dunbar/Spring Neighborhood Foresters, and Desert Harvesters, both non-profit organizations. Lancaster lives on an eighth of an acre (506 m2) in downtown

Tucson, Arizona Tucson (; ; ) is a city in Pima County, Arizona, United States, and its county seat. It is the second-most populous city in Arizona, behind Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix, with a population of 542,630 in the 2020 United States census. The Tucson ...

, where rainfall is less than per annum. In such

arid Aridity is the condition of geographical regions which make up approximately 43% of total global available land area, characterized by low annual precipitation, increased temperatures, and limited water availability.Perez-Aguilar, L. Y., Plata ...

conditions, Lancaster consistently models that annually catching of rainwater to feed food-bearing shade trees, abundant gardens, and a thriving landscape is a much more viable option than the municipal system of directing it into

storm drain A storm drain, storm sewer (United Kingdom, U.S. and Canada), highway drain, surface water drain/sewer (United Kingdom), or stormwater drain (Australia and New Zealand) is infrastructure designed to drain excess rain and ground water from i ...

s and sewer systems. Lancaster helped legalize the harvest of street runoff in the city of Tucson, Arizona, with then-illegal water-harvesting

curb cut A curb cut (U.S.), curb ramp, depressed curb, dropped kerb ( UK), pram ramp, or kerb ramp (Australia) is a solid (usually concrete) ramp graded down from the top surface of a sidewalk to the surface of an adjoining street. It is designed primaril ...

s at his and his brother’s home and demonstration site that made openings in the street curb to enable street runoff to freely irrigate street-side and in-street water-harvesting/ traffic-calming landscapes of food-bearing native vegetation. After proving the concept, Brad then worked with the City of Tucson to legalize, enhance, and incentivize the process. Lancaster co-created and now co-organizes the Neighborhood Foresters program which since 1996 has coordinated volunteer crews of neighbors to plant and steward over 1,700 native food-bearing trees and thousands of native food-bearing and

medicinal Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for patients, managing the Medical diagnosis, diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, ...

understory plantings within or beside water-harvesting earthworks that, combined, harvest over one million gallons (3.7 million liters) of

stormwater Stormwater, also written storm water, is water that originates from precipitation (storm), including heavy rain and meltwater from hail and snow. Stormwater can soak into the soil ( infiltrate) and become groundwater, be stored on depressed lan ...

per year in his neighborhood, while helping and training volunteers from other neighborhoods to lead similar efforts in their neighborhoods. Brad Lancaster leading tour of permaculture students

Brad Lancaster leading tour of permaculture students

The Desert Harvesters non-profit organization Brad co-founded teaches the public how to identify, harvest, and process many of the native-plant foods neighbors are planting in their neighborhoods. Desert Harvesters also makes the utilization of native foods easier by organizing community

milling Milling may refer to: * Milling (minting), forming narrow ridges around the edge of a coin * Milling (grinding), breaking solid materials into smaller pieces by grinding, crushing, or cutting in a mill * Milling (machining), a process of using ro ...

events that mill native mesquite pods into nutritious and delicious

mesquite Mesquite is a common name for some plants in the genera ''Neltuma'' and '' Strombocarpa'', which contain over 50 species of spiny, deep-rooted leguminous shrubs and small trees. They are native to dry areas in the Americas. Until 2022, these ge ...

flour Flour is a powder made by Mill (grinding), grinding raw grains, List of root vegetables, roots, beans, Nut (fruit), nuts, or seeds. Flours are used to make many different foods. Cereal flour, particularly wheat flour, is the main ingredie ...

which is utilized by a growing number of restaurants, breweries, and home kitchens. Brad resigned from Desert Harvesters in the summer of 2020. He was involved in a 2009 project, acting as a representative for the

U.S. State Department The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs ...

on an educational tour in the Middle East.

Lectures

Lancaster lectures at the ECOSA Institute; the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it ...

; and Prescott College. He has been a guest speaker at the annual

Bioneers Bioneers, under its parent foundation, Collective Heritage Institute, is a non-profit environmental and social justice advocacy organization based in New Mexico and California. Founded in 1990, the organization's philosophy says that there is val ...

Convergence; Green Festival USGBC’s Greenbuild Conference; Texas Natural Building Colloquium; the New Mexico

Xeriscape Xeriscaping is the process of landscaping, or gardening, that reduces or eliminates the need for irrigation. It is promoted in regions that do not have accessible, plentiful, or reliable supplies of fresh water and has gained acceptance in other ...

Conference; the Green Festival; the 2009 Water Conservation & Xeriscaping EXPO; the New Mexico Organic Farming Conference; Conference of World Affairs and various Audubon Expeditions.

Design

Lancaster has designed integrated water-harvesting and permaculture systems for multiple projects, including the Tucson Audubon Simpson Farm restoration site, the Milagro development, Stone Curves co-housing project, and the Tucson Nature Conservancy water-harvesting demonstration site, the Wallace Desert Garden at the

Boyce Thompson Arboretum Boyce Thompson Arboretum is the oldest and largest botanical garden in the state of Arizona. It is one of the oldest botanical institutions west of the Mississippi River. Founded in 1924 as a desert plant research facility and “living museum� ...

, and the Tumamoc Resilience Garden.

Books

* Lancaster, Brad (2020)
''Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond, Volume 2: Water-Harvesting Earthworks, 2nd Edition.''
Rainsource Press. * Lancaster, Brad (2019)
''Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond, Volume 1: Guiding Principles to Welcome Rain into Your Life and Landscape, 3rd Edition''.
Rainsource Press. * Desert Harvesters (2018)
''Eat Mesquite and More: A Cookbook for Sonoran Desert Foods and Living''.
Rainsource Press. rad Lancaster: contributing author and editor.* Mottram, A., Carlberg, E., Love A., Cole, T., Brush W., Lancaster, B. (2017).
Resilience Design in Smallholder Farming Systems: A Practical Approach to Strengthening Farmer Resilience to Shocks and Stresses
'. The TOPS Program and

Mercy Corps Mercy Corps is a global non-governmental, humanitarian aid organization operating in transitional contexts that have undergone, or have been undergoing, various forms of economic, environmental, social and political instabilities. The organizati ...

. * Lancaster, Brad (2013). ''Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond, Volume 1: Guiding Principles to Welcome Rain into Your Life and Landscape, 2nd Edition''. Rainsource Press. * Lancaster, Brad (2008). ''Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond, Volume 2: Water-Harvesting Earthworks, 1st Edition''. Rainsource Press. * Lancaster, Brad (2006). ''Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond, Volume 1: Guiding Principles to Welcome Rain into Your Life and Landscape, 1st Edition''. Rainsource Press.

Published articles

Journal of American Water Works AssociationChelsea Green

Awards

*Citizen Forester of the Year: Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management (2021) *MOCA Local Genius Award: Tucson (2016) *Lifetime Achievement Award: American Rainwater Catchment Systems Association (ARCSA) (2015) *Bicycle Commuter of the Year: Tucson-Pima County Bicycle Advisory Committee (2014) *Cox Conserves Hero: Arizona (2013) *David Yetman Award: Tucson Audubon Society (2013) *Award of Excellence/Personal Recognition from American Rainwater Catchment Systems Association (2008) *Arizona Department of Water Resources/Tohono Chul Park Xeriscape Contest Award, First Place – Homeowner under $10,000 (2005)Poole, B. “Design With the Desert in Mind”, ''Tucson Citizen'', March 2006, p.4A. *Arizona Department of Water Resources/Tohono Chul Park Xeriscape Contest Award – Best Water Harvesting (2005) *Arizona Department of Water Resources/Tohono Chul Park Xeriscape Contest Award –J.D. Di Melglio Artistry in Landscaping (2005) *City of Tucson and Pima County Good Neighbor Award (2001) *Tucson Weekly voted Dunbar/Spring Organic Community Garden the Best Neighborhood Garden (2000)

External links

HarvestingRainwater.comDunbar/Spring Neighborhood ForestersDesertHarvesters.orgDryland-harvesting home gathers sun, rain, food

Interviews

Urban Farm U podcast 540: Brad Lancaster on Planting the Rain
May 2020
Permaculture For the Future podcast 003: Harvesting Rainwater For a Greener Future with Brad Lancaster
February 2020
Eat Mesquite and More! with Brad Lancaster and Jill Lorenzini, The Permaculture Podcast
10 March 2018
The Desert Harvesters with Brad Lancaster, The Permaculture Podcast
3 December 2015
Water Harvesting with Brad Lancaster, The Permaculture Podcast
15 January 2015
Tucson Man Harvests Water, National Public Radio (NPR)
10 September 2008
Harvesting Rainwater by Not Letting It Go to Waste

National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

(NPR), 10 January 2008
Brad Lancaster: Dancing in the RainNew Dimensions Media
30 October 2006
Grow With the Flow: Legal Uses of Graywater
Carol Steinfeld, '' Natural Home and Garden'', March/April 2008

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lancaster, Brad 1967 births Living people Desert greening conservationists Permaculturalists People from Tucson, Arizona American conservationists