Section 2C - Sector Analysis
The Sun
What is the minimum sun angle on winter's solstice?
This is the Solar Azimuth expressed as a compass heading (in degrees). For example: 122 degrees.
124º
What is the maximum sun angle on winter's solstice?
This is the Solar Azimuth expressed as a compass heading (in degrees). For example: 238 degrees.
236º
What is the highest solar elevation occuring at midday on winter's solstice?
This is the angle of elevation the Sun reaches above the horizon (in degrees). For example: 24 degrees.
21º
What is the minimum sun angle on summer's solstice?
This is the Solar Azimuth expressed as a compass heading (in degrees). For example: 58 degrees.
54º
What is the maximum sun angle on summer's solstice?
This is the Solar Azimuth expressed as a compass heading (in degrees). For example: 302 degrees.
306º
What is the highest solar elevation at midday on summer's solstice?
This is the angle of elevation the Sun reaches above the horizon (in degrees). For example: 70 degrees.
68º
What opportunities and limitations are manifested on the site by this?
Describe details of how understanding sun angles and their seasonal changes will be utilised within your design to the benefit of your systems, structures, or people.
The morning sun takes longer to show up on this west sloping site. The disadvantage isn't huge, but it exists.
Any housing or other facilities that require some climate control will need to be designed with the summer and winter sun angles in mind. The overhangs or canopies that shade south facing windows in the summer yet allow sunlight into buildings in the winter will be required. Capturing the morning sun as quickly as possible will be necessary to keep dwellings and animal shelters warm enough during the cool and cold months. These can start in September and run halfway through May, a good eight months of the year. Greenhouses, hoophouses need to be placed where maximum sunlight is available. They should be sheltered with hedgerows or other designed installations from the north, northeast, and northwest as much as possible, but allowing east, southeast, south, southwest and western sun as much as possible to interact with these structures.
Root cellars will need to be designed into places where shade exists year-round.
Describe how the design takes advantage of these opportunities and how it will address these limitations.
The design will install components that shelter from the polar directions and keep southern directions clear to absorb as much sun as possible.
The Wind
From which direction do the strongest or most consistent winds blow in summer?
When direct observational data encompassing the terrain and windbreaks on the site is available that is best, when not, area or regional data can be recorded here.
North
Northeast
East
Southeast
South
Southwest
West
Northwest
Data for this comes from windatlas.ca's wind rose. The wind rose shows 210º as having substantially more wind energy than the other points on the compass.
From which direction do the strongest or most consistent winds blow in Winter?
When direct observational data encompassing the terrain and windbreaks on site is available, that is best; when not, area or regional data can be recorded here.
North
Northeast
East
Southeast
South
Southwest
West
Northwest
The windrose provided by windatlas.ca shows the December, January, February winds divided almost evenly from 210º, 240º, 270º, 300º, 330º, 0º, and 30º. Averaged out, the winter winds come generally from 300º, or Northwest.
What categories of winds will be addressed in the design? (select all that apply)
Breezes
Cold Wind
Dusty Wind (Dust Storms)
Fire WindFrom which direction do the strongest or most consistent winds blow in summer?
Frequent High Wind
Hot/Dry Wind
Storm Wind
Tornadic Wind
Wind that brings rain.
Other (specify)
What is included in the design to address winds? List elements, installations, and systems as appropriate.
Earth banks on or near buildings for the cold winds coming from 210º - 30º...from the Northwest.
Hedgerows to temper wind from the Southwest near home garden and market garden.
The Water Flows
Are there examples of damaging erosion, temporary or seasonal flowing water, or large amounts of sheet runoff during large rain events that will need to be addressed by the design? (Yes or No)
While permanent water on site is part of the design, the sector map is more concerned with flows, forces, and moving events that may need action.
Yes
List and describe these, as appropriate.
There are several washes that flow into the Joe Buck Brook. They are barely preserved as thin riparian zones and flow from the northeast to the southwest. These are mostly temporary flows, and receive water from rain events and spring melt of winter snows. They haven't yet formed deep gullies, and don't appear likely to any time soon. Most of the land does have about 10 cm of humus that seems to be absorbing sheet flow.
What is included in the design to address this?
While they may not be necessary to prevent excess flow in the washes, the design will install 20 kilometers of swales to speed up the vitality of all the trees and plants to be planted in the system.
Wildfires
Are there hot/dry winds that could increase fire risk on portions of the site? (Yes or No)
No
Describe how this currently impacts the site and how your design will address this.
There have been, historically, fires in this region during dry summers. There was no evidence of this in the remaining trees from the short observation during the site visit, but fires have come through the area as recently as the mid 1980s. The summer of 2020 was very dry and it's miraculous that none of this land experienced fire at that time. That said, most winds come with precipitation in this area.
In the off chance that hot dry winds appear during a drought, the installation of swales, ponds, and lush vegetation species throughout the site will serve as fire prevention systems.
Are there hills, valleys, or other terrain features that increase wind force, speed, or create funneling effects? (Yes or No)
Yes
Describe how this currently impacts the site and how your design will address this.
The site is on the eastern side of a valley that is cut with the Joe Buck Brook on the western boundary. This valley's bottom flows into the Shepody Bay/Bay of Fundy. The Bay is less than 2 kilometers from the southwest border of the site. Winds from the Southwest would be concentrated along this valley. The site would be buffered by hills to the east, west, and north.
Since most of the winds in the summer are from the Southwest, this site will experience higher than normal winds from that direction due to the shape of the land. Another factor of the Southwest winds is that they come across the Shepody Bay and only need to travel 2 kilometers to reach the site. The Shepody Bay barely reaches 18ºC in the summer, therefore the wind that comes into the site is cooled by the bay.
As stated elsewhere, hedgerows or similar components will be installed/planted to lower the wind's impact from this direction near Zone 1 gardens and the market garden. In the tree growing swale system, fast growing poplars and willows will be interspersed with food production trees and plants to help buffer the winds and give the higher value trees some relief from the wind as they mature.
Zone 0 will be bounded by a fairly large pond directly to the south and southwest to provide some protection from the unlikely event of a wildfire.
Are there concentrations of quickly regenerating wildfire fuels on site? (Yes or No)
Yes
Describe how this currently impacts the site and how your design will address this.
The land is approximately 80% clearcut. Since the approximately 2008 clearcut, the regrowth is scrub with patches of thick conifer regrowth along with a fair bit of deadwood (standing and fallen). The land changed hands in 2008 and the new owner didn't replant the property to an industrial forest as is the usual practice in this region. The property changed hands again in 2021 and is now in the hands of the Trust for which this design is being created.
Grasses and scrub dominate the landscape. Nearly all the scrub bush is deciduous, producing leaf littter that is flammable if the rains don't come quick enough in the autumn. The summer of 2020 was exceptionally dry, with barely any precipitation from May - October. We're very lucky this land didn't go up in flames last year.
The design that installs water spreading/sinking/tree growing swales and ponds from end to end and top to bottom will, year by year, lower the abundance of wildfire fuels as moist soils, luscious vegetation, and healthy trees fill in all the open gaps currently present.
Access
Do any of the energy effects moving across the sector map currently harmonise negatively with existing access? (Yes or No)
Roads creating runoff problems, long straight tracks or pathways concentrating wind badly, barriers to desirable flows caused by the interruption the pathway represents, etc.?
If you are making changes to create harmony then that status quo will have such negatives to point out, or you would not need to make improvements. Think carefully before rushing to say there are no examples of this on the site.
Yes
List and describe as appropriate these negative interactions and how the design will mitigate them.
On the eastern border is the main access to the site, the Westcock Hill Road. All points higher in elevation than the site have their water draining against the road and down the ditch, which flows south past the property.
Once the swales on the property are installed and they're judged to be able to handle the water flows from the Westcock Hill Road, and if it's deemed necessary to capture that water to bring it on the land, we'll perform improvements to the road that will include culverts that bring water from the eastern ditch to swales on the western side of the road. The catchment only reaches another 400 meters to the east before the ridge/hill peaks and starts draining to the east, so performing activities to direct that water onto the site can be delayed for now.
Provide 3 - 5 examples of where your design harmonises positively with energy effects moving across the sector map to the benefit of the site.
Although the lay of the land is what's usually considered a less desirable west facing slope, the slope isn't very steep. Shading from the hill to the east is slight, but it delays the morning sun for a while across the site.
The access road that is proposed to follow the government right of way straight through the property will intersect most of the water catching swales somewhat perpendicularly, which will provide a single access trunk to practically every spot on the property.
The shallowing land near the keypoints are where the structures will be installed. Orienting the bunkhouse and animal shelters to capture the sun during cool months and designing these buildings to block the heat of the sun during summer months will adapt to the changing solar aspect through the seasons.
Hedgerows perpendicular to the stronger summer southwest winds will improve conditions where animals and gardens will be raised.
Building suntrap berms topped with willows, poplars, and conifers will block cold winds from the northern half of the compass. Placing human and animal structures in the suntrap will make things more comfortable during the cooler months of the year.
Negative Inputs
Are there any negative energies coming onto the site? (select all that apply)
Noise
Smell
Dust
None
Other (Specify)
Potentially polluted water from lowbush blueberry agriculture uphill from the site.
Describe how this currently impacts the site and how your design will address this.
Note, this is not the same as the negative harmonics above, there are many different energies and flows that could be entering and moving through your site that you might need to address for the client. Think carefully before rushing to say there are no examples of this on the site.
One negative energy coming into the site is the existence of lowbush blueberry fields to the north and northeast of the site. It is common practice in this region to control blueberry field weed growth with herbicides and insecticides. One of the most common herbicides utilised is glyphosate, which knocks back most weeds but doesn't seem affect lowbush blueberries. These fields are uphill from the client's site and the water that flows off the blueberry fields flows onto this land. It might be best to create a buffer to absorb this energy. Deciduous trees don't thrive when in contact with glyphosate, but conifers do. Therefore, it might be beneficial to plant a thick buffer of conifers along these borders to absorb as much of these chemicals as possible. A preferable situation would be to purchase the crop from the owners and offer to manage the sites using more organic methods, such as those being designed by Advancing Eco Agriculture. AEA has organic protocols for highbush blueberries that might be applicable to lowbush blueberry fields. This solution will require more study.
Aesthetics
Are there any aesthetic considerations which will need to be a part of the sector map? (Yes or No)
Yes
What sort? Describe the situation, and the client's desire. (Select all that apply)
Seasonal Views
Positive Views
Negative Views
Other (Specify)
How does the design address this?
On certain higher elevations of the site, a captivating view of the Shepody Bay is experienced. Camp sites with a look-out tower could be designed into the plan. A wind turbine or wind powered water pump integrated into the look-out tower should be strongly considered. This would provide possible additional income to the site for campers while improving the range of the view while providing a structure to mount wind energy capturing systems.
Wildlife
Are there any native wildlife corridors moving through or across the site? (Yes or No)
Yes
How does the design harmonise with this activity? How can this be of benefit to the design?
All of Southeast New Brunswick is a major corridor for migratory birds. Just a few kilometers to the west is the world famous feeding ground for migratory sandpipers. To the east is the Chignecto Bay which leads to the important bird migratory route over the Tantramar Marsh. Eagles, hawks, owls, and dozens upon dozens of migratory birds flow through the area as they follow either the Petitcodiac/Memramcook rivers or the Tantramar marsh as they move along the Atlantic coast to and from northern summer nesting grounds. At the very least, any birds stopping along the way will drop nutrients onto the soil. As it stands now, the site isn't the most inviting to migratory birds. There are no bodies of water, not a whole lot of food bearing trees, and the insectivorous birds find the site lacking in anything but black flies in the spring, horse flies in the heat of the summer and mosquitoes on any day the temperature rises above 5C.
There was evidence of deer, rabbits, porcupine, moose, and possibly bear on the site, as evidenced by scat encounters. Red squirrels were heard in the trees near Joe Buck Brook.
There are likely plenty of mice, voles, and other small rodents on the site as well. The birds in evidence during the site visit were limited to crows and a small batch of gray jays. Chickadees were heard.
Most of the larger species wouldn't take residence on the site, but pass through on their regular rounds of eating the landscape.
Other than the Joe Buck Brook running along the western boundary, there's very little in the way of plants or animals that utilise water for their survival and abundance. It would be expected that American Eels will be using the Joe Buck Brook to spread through any washes or other rivulets that feed the brook, as eels are abundant in most waterways that feed into the Bay of Fundy.
The design will significantly increase the biodiversity on the site by implementing polyculture in the food forest and polyculture in the Zone 1 orchard as well as the creation of many hectares of open water. This will attract animals and birds and hopefully a great number of insects beneficial to the biology on the site.
Are there problems originating from wildlife? (Yes or No)
i.e., predation, vegetation damage, digging, burrowing, etc.
Not yet.
How does the design address this?
Permaculture solutions will be used address wildlife problems on an ad hoc basis.
Sector Map Guidelines
Files should be in JPEG format and ideally less than 4MB in size.
This image should clearly illustrate the different energies, events, and data compiled in the responses of this form section that move into, out of, across, or through the site in proper context and at a useful scale.
As part of making this map a useful tool we recommend for most sites centering the map in Zone 0 or 1 and scaling the map so that the site boundaries are easily seen. Presenting the boundary and sector data over an otherwise blank background helps keep these lines and labels easier to see. Keeping the sector data as the primary seen information on the page.
The compass rose (orientation) and scale (distance) should also be present on this map, and presented in a format similar to that used in your previous maps. As we move from map to map, the orientation should be kept consistent so that there is no need to turn and reorient each image to look at them all at the same time.
While not every conceivable piece of sector data which could appear must appear on the map if things are getting too cluttered, be sure to include at a minimum:
The sector for prevailing winds (or two, if there are strong winds from different directions in opposing seasons)
All the winter and summer Sun compass angles.
Water sectors if applicable.
Fire sector data if applicable.
Specific Negative sectors if applicable.
Do not include:
Contour data
Site design details (they have their own subsequent maps.
Anything that makes it harder to read, find, or see the details required for this map as described above.
This map is required. It should be unique and different from your other maps, and therefore not a duplicate of any other map file submitted.
