Charlene LeBleu is an Assistant Professor, and Chair of the Landscape Architecture Program at Auburn University, Auburn, AL. She has a B.S. Forest Resources and Conservation from the University of Florida, and a Master of Community Planning, and a Master of Landscape Architecture from Auburn University. She is a licensed AICP planner (American Institute of Certified Planners). Charlene’s primary areas of interest and research have been focused on LEED “green” building and water quality issues in Alabama, especially issues related to natural resource based design. Other interest and research areas include bioretention, low impact development, and brownfield redevelopment.

Charlene has shown exceptional public/community service and leadership especially in the field of Outreach Scholarship working with regional partners and city planning commissions on design projects such as, the Catoma Creek Environmental Park Pre-Development Plan, the Tarrant Nut & Bolt Brownfield Redevelopment Design Charette, and GIS Interactive Mapping of the Lower Cahaba River Basin for Recreation and Ecotourism Opportunities.

Funded Academic Research

• FY 2007 Alabama Department of Environmental Management CWA Section 319 Project Stormwater Pollutant Reduction through Residential Low Impact Development (LID), Auburn Demonstration Project. (Co-PI). Location: Auburn, AL $830,000.
• FY 2006 Water Resources Research Institute Program, Evaluating Bioretention Nutrient Removal in a Rain Garden with an Internal Water Storage (IWS) Layer. (Co-PI). Location: Auburn University, AL $53,049.
• FY 2006 Auburn University Technical Assistance Grant. PI Calhoun County, AL. Landfill Park Master Plan. $12,600.
• FY 2005 Mobile National Estuary Program Grant (PI). “Feasibility Study for Public Access Opportunities: Dauphin Island Causeway.” Location: Dauphin Island, AL. $21,773.
• FY 2004 Auburn University College of Agriculture Research Grant (Co-PI). Transportation Study and Website/ Public Relations Development for the Center for Sustainable Rural Living. $32,500.
• FY 2003 USDA/ CSREES Integrated Research, Education and Extension Competitive Grant (Co-PI). Community-Based Restoration Initiatives. $152,000.

Publications

• “Rebuilding Ground: Accessing Coastal Public Access, Dauphin Island AL.” International CSLA/ CELA 2006 Conference (Vancouver, British Columbia). (Refereed)
• “Community–Based Restoration Initiatives in East Central Alabama,” 2005 Alabama Water Resources Conference at Orange Beach, AL (Refereed)
• Gifford, James and Gabrielle Zezulka-Maillox. Culture + The State Landscape & Ecology: Critical Works from the World Congress of Culture and State, Vol. 1. “A River Runs Through It No More: Evaluating the Human-Nature Relationship of the Urban Stream, ” by Charlene LeBleu. CRC Humanities Studio Publishers. University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. 2003. ISBN 1-55195-139-8 (Refereed)
• ” A River Runs Through It No More: Evaluating the Human-Nature relationship of the Urban Stream,” Proceedings Recalibrating Centers and Margins, 91st Annual Meeting Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture, Louisville, KY, 2003. (Refereed)

Research Reports

• “Feasibility Study for Public Access Opportunities: Dauphin Island, Alabama.” Published by The Mobile National Estuary Program, Mobile, AL. 45 pp. March 2006.