January 3, 2008

SSI Pushes For Landscape-Specific Green Standards

The San Francisco Chronicle reports that the Sustainable Sites Initiative has released a preliminary standards and guidelines report for achieving sustainable landscapes.  The report, released in November, is still out for comment. The goal is to develop landscape-specific standards that the U.S. Green Building Council will incorporate into its LEED system.

In 2005, the SSI was originally created by the American Society of Landscape Architects and the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center when they saw the need to develop standards for landscaping to be incorporated into the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED system.

The report focuses on ways in which landscaping site designs can preserve, enhance and restore ecosystem services.

A final standards and guidelines report is not expected until May 2009.  The plan is for a rating system for sustainable landscape performance benchmarks to be established within two years of that report.

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