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EBOM-2009 SSc5:Site Development—Protect or Restore Open Habitat

At what point is something considered non-monoculture?

During the value engineering process, a lot of the plantings were removed for budgetary reasons. I need to re-introduce them but judiciously to get back to the spirit of the credit. When is a lawn considered non-monoculture? A maple tree? overseeding with another grass species? A group of native bushes in the corner? I want to achieve bio-diversity and get closer to a habitat than the lawn can afford, but I can't rip it out and replace it. How do I get there?

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Tristan Roberts
Representative
Vermont House of Representatives
LEEDuser Expert
7780 thumbs up

Sun, 09/08/2013 - 17:37

Allen, I don't think there is any clear dividing line between monoculture and polyculture. However, among the suggestions in your post I think that overseeding multiple other species would come closest to what you need. Just added a tree or some bushes is a good step but you see trees plopped in the middle of turf grass everywhere and it doesn't exactly scream "biodiversity."
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V B
LEEDuser Basic Member
2 thumbs up

Thu, 11/14/2013 - 20:19

Is there a minimum number of species that need to be planted in order to be out of the "monoculture" category? I believe for roofs it's 6 different sedum, but what is the number for non-roof areas?
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Trista Brown
Project Director
WSP USA
LEEDuser Basic Member
381 thumbs up

Thu, 11/21/2013 - 18:42

You're right about the number of sedum varieties per Interpretation ID#10231. I'm not sure that a similar ruling has been made for non-roof areas. I think it helps to return to the credit intent for this, which is to provide habitat and promote biodiversity with native/adapted plantings. Clearly demonstrating that the mix of species meets the intent is the most important thing to do to show compliance.

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