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.
8,041
Workshop/event participants since 2015
68
Sustainable gardens installed
4M
Annual water impact (gallons)
409
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.
HOA Projects
Creating sustainable, beautiful and cost-saving landscapes in HOA common areas.
Urban Forest
A resilient, mixed-canopy urban forest with California native drought-tolerant trees and fruit trees.
Additional Resources
News and Updates
Grow Your Gardens and Knowledge Through Our Compost Classes
Soil health is a big focus for Sustainable Solano this year. This March through May, we’ll be offering classes for all levels of composting to build healthy soil. This series will consist of three classes, with a beginners composting class in March, an intermediate class in April and an advanced composting class in May.
Sustainable Landscaping, Lawn Removal on Water-Efficient Rebate Budget
Thanks to everyone who came to our class with Alana Mirror about how she transformed her lawn into an edible and native landscape, all within the budget of the Water-Efficient Rebate Program from the Solano County Water Agency. For resources on how you can make a sustainable transformation in your own backyard (and on a budget!), here’s a playlist of videos from the class and more.
Rebates for Residential Greywater Recycling
Ainslee Shuemake is a graduate student specializing in water resource management in UC Davis’ Environmental Policy and Management (EPM) Program and wrote this op-ed piece on the state’s proposed water conservation regulations. We wanted to share her insight with you and also let you know that we are currently looking for sites to host laundry-to-landscape educational workshops.