| It’s time for trees to be the powerhouse of the industry. Sales have been minimal while nursery burn and compost piles have been excessive. It’s been a frightening and maddening situation. As the downturn slowly rights itself, albeit painfully slowly, tree growers need to push the message of the value of trees to anyone with a pulse. Trees are a necessity, not a luxury. Study after study points to the millions of dollars trees provide in benefits to cities.
Although these amounts are impressive, let’s take it down to the homeowner level. Tell the buyer how trees put money back in their accounts. Other benefits Spring Grove Nursery in Mazon, Ill., touts the benefits of its trees to current and future customers. Owners Becky and Jamie Thomas spend a lot of time at schools teaching children how trees clean air pollution, provide oxygen and offer a home for wildlife. The Thomases also teach the school-agers how to plant and care for trees in the landscape. “Being involved in the community and making sure our trees are part of the community is important to our business,” Becky said in between sessions at the ANLA Management Clinic this year. Treed neighborhoods reduce crime compared to those without trees. Research also shows that trees reduce stress in the homes, schools and even behind the wheel. The message must be simple. Use a couple of talking points that speak to the customer’s wallet and their conscience. There’s no need to use scientific terms such as amelioration or transpiration. Possible partnerships The Sustainable Sites Initiative (SITES) was created to promote sustainable land development and management practices that can apply to sites with and without buildings including. And trees are an integral part of these projects, such as local, state and national parks; conservation easements and buffer zones; transportation rights-of-way; industrial, retail and office parks; military complexes; airports; and public and private campuses. SITES will provide tools for those who influence land development and management practices and can address increasingly urgent global concerns such as climate change, loss of biodiversity and resource depletion. They can be used by those who design, construct, operate and maintain landscapes, including but not limited to planners, landscape architects, engineers, developers, builders, maintenance crews, horticulturists, governments, land stewards and organizations offering building standards. This effort began as separate projects of the Sustainable Design and Development Professional Practice Network of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) and the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. In 2005, the two groups joined forces to hold a Sustainable Sites Summit in Austin, Texas. In 2006, the United States Botanical Garden (USBG) joined as a major partner in the Initiative. A Steering Committee representing 11 stakeholder groups was selected to guide the Initiative. There are more than 150 projects participating in the SITES two-year Pilot Program through June 2012. These projects represent a diverse cross-section of project types, sizes and geographic locations in various stages of development from design to construction and maintenance. One of the SITES pilot projects is Casey Trees’ offices in Washington, D.C. The Casey Trees Brookland headquarters design uses trees to maximize canopy cover and manage stormwater. The site design showcases trees in various applications including infiltration planters for trees along 90 linear feet of sidewalk, two rain gardens with a diverse planting of trees and soil cells that create large soil volume for tree growth under the sidewalk. At maturity, the tree canopy will increase by 25 percent. The goal of the project is to demonstrate what is possible when public and non-profit institutions work together.
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