permaculture

[yarrow@sfo.com]

At 2:36 PM -0700 3/26/10, Christopher Randolph wrote:
> Hello Everyone,
>
> I recently had the opportunity to meet with a city official out here in
> Portland, Oregon who is trying to use the land along city highways to grow
> biofuels and/or building materials....>>

1. native plants. What can be more sustainable and appropriate than 
native plants? They can then do a big campaign promoting the use of 
native plants in home landscaping as well, for all the usual reasons 
(native plants support native fauna, usually require fewer inputs, 
are adapted to the climate, etc.). In Calif. some years ago, I heard 
that a landscape architect was specifying natives for roadsides but 
running into problems because the maintenance crews didn't know how 
to maintain them, so ultimately natives were  nixed. It does require 
extra training to teach a different approach (little or no watering, 
pruning, and fert once established), but worth it in the long run.

2. wood for special uses. One of the local nonprofits that's focused 
on urban trees had a project for identifying useful woods so that 
when street trees had to be cut, they could be used as specialty 
lumber rather than as mulch. So you could ask local woodworkers, what 
woods would you like to source locally? And then see what can be 
grown locally. (Though I assume that most woodworking quality woods 
come from slow-growing trees that might not grow fast enough for 
roadside use or be healthy enough when harvested.) Boxwoods, for 
instance, are prized for musical instruments but take a long, long 
time to get substantial girth. I wonder if the native cherries have 
good wood?