Bay-Friendly Rated Landscapes...

Improve Environmental Health by using less water, pesticides, synthetic fertilizers and energy, generating less waste, retaining and treating storm water, and providing healthy habitat for pollinators, birds, native plants, beneficial insects, and people.

Facilitate Compliance with other green building rating systems (such as LEED and GreenPoint Rated) and local, state and federal requirements (such as the California Water Efficient Landscape Ordinance and C.3 regulations).

Offer a Standard of Performance recognizing that the landscape, developer and project team have met or exceeded an established environmental standard.

Save Money. Resilient landscapes that are drought- and pest-resistant reduce energy, water, fertilizer, pesticide consumption, and require fewer and shorter visits by maintenance staff.

● View Bay-Friendly Rated Landscapes in a full screen map
● View a list of tools and resources for public agencies and professionals interested in promoting Bay-Friendly Rated Landscapes
● View list of Bay-Friendly Qualified Rater & Advisors
● View case studies and descriptions of Bay-Friendly Rated Landscapes at StopWaste.Org

Bay-Friendly Rated Landscapes are designed and built looking through an environmental lens (the 7 Principles of Bay-Friendly), which values practices and products that improve the ecological impact of our built urban landscapes. For each project, a team works to set and implement Bay-Friendly Landscaping goals from early in the design process through construction, and often well into maintenance. In addition, each project is verified in meeting or exceeding the requirements on the Bay-Friendly Civic and Commercial Landscape Scorecard (implementing 9 required practices and earning a minimum of 60 points), by a third-party “Bay-Friendly Landscape Rater”.

The Bay-Friendly Rated Landscape System has been piloted through StopWaste.org and applies to new construction or major renovations of landscapes that are 2,500 square feet or greater. To date, completed projects occur mainly in Alameda County but future projects are poised to be located throught the Bay Area, made possible by the Bay-Friendly Landscaping & Gardening Coalition. There are over 25 completed projects with 30 more in various stages of planning or construction. Ranging in size from 500 square feet to 30 acres, and from new development to major renovations, projects include single-family and multi-family housing, large commercial developments, streetscapes, and public facilities. All cities in Alameda County now require that new or renovated public landscapes be built to this standard. For more information on the system, refer to the Bay-Friendly Rating Manual.