New Sustainable Sites Guidelines Released

To download a PDF of the new Sustainable Sites Initiative guidelines go to www.sustainablesites.org/report/.

For over four years LASN has been reporting on the progress of the Sustainable Sites Initiative, an interdisciplinary effort by the American Society of Landscape Architects, the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center and the U.S. Botanic Garden to create voluntary national guidelines and performance standards for sustainable land design, construction and maintenance practices.

During this time, a diverse group of experts in soils, hydrology, vegetation, materials and "human health and well-being" have been at work. A draft document of criteria was released in November 2008 for sustainable land practices of built landscapes to "support natural ecological functions by protecting existing ecosystems and regenerating ecological capacity where it has been lost."

The new document, Guidelines and Performance Benchmarks 2009, expands and updates the 2008 draft, focusing on measuring and rewarding projects that protect, restore and regenerate ecosystems.

The Guidelines and Performance Benchmarks 2009 includes a rating system of 15 prerequisites and 51 credits that cover all stages of the site development, from site selection to landscape maintenance. These ratings will be tested and refined via submitted pilot projects before a formal release to the market place. The pilot projects may only be submitted online at www.sustainablesites.org/faqs/#pilotfags.  The deadline is February 15, 2010. Pilot projects will cover a broad range of project types, sizes, budgets, geographic diversity and phases of development. The minimum project size is 2,000 square feet. For questions or technical problems with the form, contact This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

A companion document to Guidelines and Performance Benchmarks 2009, The Case for Sustainable Landscapes, provides economic, environmental and social arguments for the adoption of sustainable land practices, additional background on the science behind the performance criteria in the guidelines, performance benchmarks, the purpose and principles of the Sustainable Sites Initiative and a sampling of case studies the initiative has followed. The companion document can also be downloaded at www.sustainablesites.org/report/.