Firms & Projects: Carl Thuesen ASLA

Carl Thuesen, ASLA, is a landscape and golf course architectural firm located in Billings, Montana. The principal and owner, Carl Thuesen is a registered landscape architect who has practiced in Montana and the northern Rocky Mountain region since 1973. Thuesen?EUR??,,????'???s history and knowledge of the area provides the firm with a thorough understanding of the region's unique climate, plant materials and construction challenges. This experience is applied to each of their projects.

Project: Peter Yegen Jr. Golf Club

Peter Yegan

CARL THUESEN provided master planning, construction document preparation and construction period services for an 18-hole daily fee golf course at the Peter Yegen Jr. Golf Club in Billings, Mont.

Awards: The golf course was nominated for consideration as a Golf Digest Best New Public Golf Course for 1994.

Peter Yegan

Design Elements: Routing features and six ponds were sculpted out of the flat site by moving in excess of 550,000 cubic yards of earth. Additional planning went into the practice facilities providing ample room for the heavy use it would receive as well as lighting to allow extended play in the evening.

Expertise: This project capitalized on THUESEN?EUR??,,????'???s expertise in providing a complete golf course design package: course planning, routing, layout and design as well as irrigation and pump station design.

Project: Baker City Schools

Baker City - Game Day

The Baker High School Football Field had been replaced during the mid 1980s. Subsurface drainage, a ten inch sand base, automated irrigation, and sod were installed as part of the replacement. After several years the turf declined to an almost unplayable condition. Maintenance procedures had been unsuccessful in returning the field to its previously healthy condition. Soils tests revealed a shallow root zone comprised of sand high in sodium with very little organic material. Additional tests revealed irrigation water with an extremely high salt content.

Solution: In response to the poor conditions, a custom soils amendment program was developed and implemented. This program included removal of the existing turf, incorporation of topsoil, compost, gypsum, sulfur, and specialized liquid fertilizers. Following the installation of the amendments, the field was laser leveled in preparation for installation of specially grown athletic type sod. A program has been developed prescribing maintenance procedures and continued soils monitoring for the newly reconstructed field to assure its continued quality and playability.

Baker City - Before

Expertise: The Baker City football field project builds on THUESEN?EUR??,,????'???s ability to provide creative yet practical design solutions. Full-time construction period services were provided to ensure the expectations of the owner and designer were achieved.

Project: North Casper Park Soccer Complex

North Casper

Fourteen soccer fields were arranged on 35 acres, along with roads, parking, a concession and emergency vehicle access. The irrigation system was designed to use a treated effluent water source. It is controlled by a state-of-the-art computer system and serves the existing ball fields as well as the new soccer complex.

Services: CARL THUESEN provided a master plan for site development, detailed irrigation and planting construction documents for the expansion of the North Casper Park Soccer Complex.

North Casper

Expertise: Routing features and six ponds were sculpted out of the flat site by moving in excess of 550,000 cubic yards of earth. Additional planning went into the practice facilities providing ample room for the heavy use it would receive as well as lighting to allow extended play in the evening.

North Casper

Project: Evanston Cemetery

Evanston Cemetery

CARL THUESEN designed the replacement irrigation system for 17 acres of the cemetery and modification of the recently constructed pump system. The control of the pumps was automated and a new computerized touch screen interface was provided. The newly designed irrigation system extended the city?EUR??,,????'???s existing Central Irrigation Control System and provides for easy future expansion of the irrigation system as the cemetery continues to develop.

Expertise: The Evanston Cemetery project made use of CARL THUESEN as an expert knowledge of pump control systems and central irrigation control systems.

Evanston Cemetery

Construction Schedule: The irrigation system replacement and pump station modifications were installed in 2001. CARL THUESEN recently completed the master plan for a 10-acre expansion of the cemetery. The master plan included a new maintenance facility, restroom facility, roadways, secondary entrance, projected irrigation usage and cost estimating.

Project: Sheridan Cemetery

Sheridan Cemetery

CARL THUESEN designed the new irrigation distribution and automatic computer regulated control systems for the 57-acre Sheridan Cemetery.

Challenges: Located on a high bench on the city?EUR??,,????'???s south side, the cemetery has historically been irrigated with potable water. Due to elevation, storage capacity and growth, this particular pressure zone has suffered with poor pressures and limited flow availability. These conditions were detrimental to homeowners in the area and resulted in many maintenance difficulties at the cemetery including restricted water availability.

Awards: The Wyoming Engineering Society awarded the Sheridan Cemetery Irrigation Project an honorable mention designation for the President?EUR??,,????'???s Project of the Year Award in 2000. The project has also been recognized as the 2001 Central Region Winner for Best Use of Rain Bird Water Conservancy Products.

Solution: THUESEN specified a control system that continually monitors flow conditions within the irrigation system and evapotranspiration conditions to continuously adjust individual station selection and run times. This keeps the pumps operating optimally while applying only the precipitation that the grass requires to maintain health and vigor.

Expertise: The project relied on THUESEN?EUR??,,????'???s specialized knowledge regarding turf irrigation pumping and control systems.

Principal: Carl Thuesen

Employee: Nathan Steiner, project manager and landscape architect

Specialty: Founded in 1984, the firm focuses on providing creative yet practical solutions to site design and golf course architectural challenges with special attention given to client responsiveness and quality of the constructed product.

Services: Master planning, site design, construction document preparation, estimating, and periodic construction observation. Recent contracts have enlisted the firm's services for community and regional parks, sports facilities, new construction and remodeling of golf courses, site improvements for retail centers, state universities, cemeteries, and major irrigation projects.

Thuesen?EUR??,,????'???s experience with construction of projects is invaluable in developing realistic budgets, buildable plans and accurate cost estimates for planning and design projects.

Primary Design Software: Microstation by Bentley

Primary Project Types: Athletic, Cemeteries and Golf.