This tool measures the sustainability of your landscaping and encourages companies, institutions and anyone with dirt on their property to use eco-friendly designs to protect, restore and regenerate natural ecosystems.

The Sustainable Sites Initiative lays out a set of voluntary landscaping guidelines to encourage facilities to create landscapes that are not only environmentally friendly, but also encourage economic and social egalitarian goals. Add this to adoption of green building principles and you have a comprehensive approach for managing your company’s property.

The principles were developed over four years by the American Society of Landscape Architects, the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center and the U.S. Botanic Garden to give facilities a way to rate sustainability of various landscaping designs.

Some case studies include:

• Pearl Brewery in San Antonio, TX, which mixed old industrial features to create an urban park setting
• Valley Forge Park in Pennsylvania, which reduced parking while expanding the user friendliness for visitors, and
• Kresge Foundation in Greyfield, OR, which features a mix of historic preservation, new construction techniques and landscape restoration.

The promoters of this initiative hope it will give the landscaping industry a rating system similar to EPA’s LEED program for green buildings.

Has your company done any sustainable landscaping? Let us know in the Comments Box below.