Green Infrastructure
What is Green Infrastructure?
Green infrastructure that improves the urban environment gets at the very root of what has driven Sustainable Solano since we first started — the idea of regenerative and restorative approaches to our environment that help to strengthen our communities. We want to build the capacity of our communities to develop and pursue solutions that will make physical, social, economic and cultural environments stronger.
Toward that end, our green infrastructure programs focus on the individual, neighborhood and community scale to restore natural processes to the environment through introducing cooperative plants, mulch and water-collecting landscape features to better spread and sink stormwater, build healthy soil, support cleaner air and water and create habitat. These green infrastructure efforts harness natural systems to build a healthier urban environment.
Since the first community gardens, we have drawn a connection between attention to the earth and collaboration among people. For our Sustainable Backyards program, a key component was bringing together community members and building green infrastructure skills through workshops creating food forest gardens. We are growing beyond single backyards to create urban forests and public gardens that feed neighborhoods, conserve water and trap carbon. And our Resilient Neighborhoods program helps neighbors come together to put those regenerative efforts to use on a larger, community-wide scale.
Know a property that would be a great fit for one of our programs? Fill out our Sustainable Landscaping Interest Form here.
6,083
Workshop/event participants since 2015
49
Sustainable gardens installed
3.36M
Annual water impact (gallons)
308
Trees planted
Solano Sustainable Backyards
Demonstration food forest gardens using sustainable landscaping techniques to create vibrant, abundant gardens.
Resilient Neighborhoods
Neighbors working together to create environmentally and socially resilient community hubs.
Solano Gardens
Edible gardens that supply fresh produce to communities with limited access.
Urban Forest
A resilient, mixed-canopy urban forest with California native drought-tolerant trees and fruit trees.
Additional Resources
News and Updates
Solano Cities Face Risks from a ‘Return to Normal’
Nick Reynoso joined us this summer as a California Climate Action Corps Fellow with a focus on our Resilient Neighborhoods program in Suisun City and building connections with community members and local environmental leaders. In this blog, he offers his reflections on climate change and the risks it holds for coastal cities — and ways to prepare.
A Call to Action to Save the Monarchs
If we want future generations to live in a world that still has Monarchs, we have to act now. Co-founders of the Monarch Milkweed Project have a call to action to save these important pollinators.
Garden Champion Sylvia Herrera in the Spotlight
This is a new feature highlighting the people who support Sustainable Solano’s work with their time, energy and commitment to shaping a better world while strengthening their communities.