Sustainable Landscapes

Making buildings more energy efficient and sustainable helps protect the environment, reduces operating expenses, and improves human comfort. But, just as important is the landscape that surrounds the building.

The Sustainable Sites Initiative defines sustainability as it relates to the landscape as, “Design, construction, operations, and maintenance practices that meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” Expanding on that definition, sustainable landscapes are stable and productive ecosystems that conserve the physical and biological processes occurring within those environments. These ecosystems, when functioning properly, not only provide humans with the basics for survival—food, water, air, plant materials, etc.—but also with intangible benefits that promote our health and well-being through our interactions with nature.

Any landscape, whether it is a large subdivision, a park, a commercial property, or a single home, has the potential to provide some or all of these benefits and, therefore, holds inherent value. When we perceive landscapes as being valuable to our well-being, we are motivated to protect and care for them in a way that ensures their viability not only for the short term but well into the future.

Design and construction of sustainable landscapes includes strategies in five key areas: soils, vegetation, hydrology, materials, and human health and well-being. The following are some of the strategies that can be incorporated into any existing landscape to increase its level of sustainability and, therefore, its overall value.

• Use native plants
• Preserve and restore soils
• Put the right plant in the right place
• Avoid invasive plants
• Limit high-maintenance lawn areas
• Use plants with long life spans
• Provide opportunities for outdoor physical, mental, and social interaction
• Promote diversity within landscape plantings
• Conserve building energy usage with plants
• Reduce runoff, retain stormwater on site
• Capture rainwater for reuse
• Preserve and restore native wildlife habitat
• Use least-toxic/organic methods for maintenance
• Conserve energy and water usage for landscape maintenance
• Recycle organic matter by composting
• Reduce water usage
  
  

Sustainable Sites Initiative to Release Rating System

As stewards of the land involved with the surveying, engineering and design of landscape and site development projects, we are excited to see that the Sustainable Sites Initiative will be releasing the first full national rating system for sustainable landscapes as part of their “Guidelines and Performance Benchmarks 2009” report.

The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building rating system is the benchmark for the design, construction, and operation of buildings in an environmentally friendly way. While the Green Building rating system does include a section for the site and landscape portion of a construction or development project, there are no comparable standards that are as comprehensive for sustainable landscapes. In response to this need, the American Society of Landscape Architects and the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center joined together to create the Sustainable Sites Initiative in 2005. After three years of tireless research and work by a group of very dedicated professionals, this rating system specific to the landscape will finally be released on November 5th.

This point-based ranking system of 15 prerequisites and 51 credits covers the entire range of design and construction phases of landscape and site development projects including appropriate site selection and pre-design assessment and planning, to site design, construction, and maintenance. These landscape-specific standards will eventually be rolled into the current LEED system.

It has been our philosophy for 36 years to approach our design solutions from an environmentally friendly perspective. We look forward to continuing these sustainable practices and helping future generations experience the same opportunities to enjoy the environment as we did. For more information on the Sustainable Sites Initiative, please visit their website at www.sustainablesites.org.