Bay-Friendly landscapes grow businesses

Bay-Friendly landscaping uses native plants.

As green building techniques move from the realm of certification systems to code requirements, developers and building owners looking to further their properties' sustainability reach and credentials are looking outside.

This means new business for sustainable landscape architects and growth for programs such as Bay-Friendly Landscaping and Gardening, which promotes gardening and landscaping native to the San Francisco Bay Watershed. Every acre of landscaping designed and maintained according to Bay-Friendly’s standard saves almost four tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) per year, according to the organization.

Much like U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design system, Bay-Friendly Landscaping and Gardening scores professionally designed and maintained landscapes based on whether they meet nine required practices and optional practices. It also certifies landscape designers as Bay-Friendly Qualified professionals.

The program’s first guidelines were published in 2003 by Oakland-based StopWaste.org. Five years ago, other governments in the region took notice and began implementing the program as well. Now it exists in all of the nine counties that surround San Francisco Bay, says Cynthia Havstad, program manager at the agency charged with reducing the waste stream in Alameda County.

Today there are 450 Bay-Friendly Qualified landscape maintenance professionals around the area, says Havstad.

The accreditation is a boon for business in tough times, says Jacob Voit, sustainability manager at Novato, Calif.-based Cagwin & Dorward. The company has 15 Bay-Friendly Qualified employees on staff. Though a small percentage of the $32 million-per-year company’s 400 employees, it’s worth each $125 course fee, he says.

The training program and the certification helped the firm grow its sales of sustainable landscape services by 450 percent over the last four years, according to Voit. He attributes that growth to the program, which he calls, “the best educational model I’ve found in the country for what a sustainable landscape is.”

“It is hard to help customers understand why sustainability will help them have a resilient business in the future,” he says. “Our managers were going to be able to have the new language of sustainable landscaping and the capability to talk to our customers.”