We have a lot of resources about implementing minimum soil volumes for urban trees on this blog. Recently we’ve updated our list of municipalities that have a minimum soil volume standard. Trees need an adequate volume of root, oxygen-rich soil to thrive, and minimum soil volume policies are a powerful tool for arborists and other advocates... More
When the University of North Carolina (UNC) set about constructing a showpiece science building designed to offer space for world-class research, it seemed only fitting that both the interior and exterior would rise to the highest sustainable standards both architecturally and environmentally. In 2010, University of North Carolina (UNC), Chapel Hill embarked down a sustainable... More
The San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) is teaching by example, adding Silva Cells to its campuses. As part of the SDUSD site modernization plan, this year two schools added Silva Cells to their campus, and five more SDUSD schools will be exploring Silva Cells as part of the underground bioretention strategy for their campus... More
The University of South Carolina seriously upped its tailgating game in 2012. For the first decade of the new millennium, Gamecocks fans turned the parking lot opposite Williams-Brice Stadium into an adult playground on game days. The parking lot once hosted the state farmers’ market, but the fans so successfully commandeered the space that the... More
The Cost and Benefit at 617 East Arques Ave. Silicon Valley’s third-largest city after San Jose and Fremont, Sunnyvale is home to LinkedIn and Google, among other notable tech companies. In 2014 the city added 85 new townhomes with underground bioretention. SummerHill Homes at 617 East Arques Ave. were part of the latest wave of... More
Mosquito Creek Watershed in North Vancouver is a unique natural retreat nestled within a large urban footprint. The area is a popular retreat for hiking, mountain biking, and walking, and leads directly to the Trans Canada Trail, the longest hiking trail in the country. Due to its proximity to the City of North Vancouver, however,... More
The Silva Cell® System has been installed across the UK, from as south as Plymouth and as north as Inverness. Here are some of our projects installed, highlighting the Silva Cell System’s effectiveness at: providing ample soil volumes for tree growth; structural stability for surrounding hard paved surfaces; powerful stormwater attenuation and bioretention; and ease... More
The MBCC was the chosen destination to host the renowned annual American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) conference October 2–5, 2020. However due to health and safety concerns resulting from the coronavirus pandemic, ASLA was compelled to cancel the physical conference. Today the conference center is being used as a testing site for COVID-19. Since... More
Two Projects, One Community, Dozens of Trees On the surface, it wouldn’t appear that Silva Cells have much in common with Catholic Charities of St. Paul and Minneapolis. But a closer look reveals how they both are metaphorically and literally supportive of their communities and resilient. Catholic Charities’ Outreach campus, which has grown to 5... More
There are now dozens of open-source tree maps in communities worldwide. The most successful mapping projects are those that provide citizen scientists with simple guides on how to accurately identify tree species and assess tree health. The more accurate the information on the tree maps, the more accurate the green infrastructure calculations they produce – and the... More