The increasing the use of native plants offers Pennsylvania five “Es”—economic, environmental, energy savings, and education opportunities and the chance to teach a ‘land ethic,’ said Jim MacKenzie, President and Operations Manager for Octoraro Native Plant Nursery at this week’s Environmental Issues Forum.

The Forum is sponsored by the Joint Air and Water Pollution Control and Conservation Committee, chaired by Rep. Scott Hutchinson (R-Venango).

Economic

“The movement to restore stream buffers, forests, wetlands and floodplains to their natural functions in the last 10 years in Pennsylvania has increased demand for native plant materials to fulfill this need,” said MacKenzie. “In fact we now do 80 percent of our business in Pennsylvania, when we used to do 80 percent in Maryland and other states because of Growing Greener, TreeVitalize and other programs here in the state.”

MacKenzie noted Pennsylvania’s “green industry” -- landscape contracting, nursery, floriculture growers and retail garden centers-- is the fastest growing segment of Pennsylvania agriculture which grew 11 percent annually between 1997 and 2002.

“Our green industry contributes $5.6 billion to Pennsylvania’s economy and employs over 75,000 Pennsylvanians,” said MacKenzie.

“Yet, with all this growth and understanding, many watershed groups, local governments and even state agencies are not aware of the options they now have available to use native plants,” said MacKenzie. “Even homeowners can now use native plants for small projects like rain gardens that have environmental benefits.”

Environmental

Native plants can be used to help remove nutrients and stabilize streambanks, control stormwater runoff, treat acid mine drainage, restore floodplains and wetlands, provide attractive, low maintenance landscaping in business and corporate settings, provide habitat for a variety of birds and other wildlife and can be used to create rain gardens for homeowners on a smaller scale.

MacKenzie said Maryland requires developers to restore forest cover on projects over 40,000 square feet in size under its Forest Conservation Act. By requiring reforestation and better planning for developments, Maryland has been able to retain 65 percent of existing forest cover on new development and restore at least 14 percent of the remaining 35 percent or so that was cleared.

Under Delaware’s “Plants for Livable Delaware,” the Delaware Department of Transportation has undertaken a campaign to identify and promote native plants in its roadside plantings to help establish a regional identity.

“We now have a much better understanding of how invasive and exotic species like Purple Loosestrife and Japanese knotweed have destroyed productive habitats in Pennsylvania, and what the benefits of planting native species are,” said MacKenzie.

Other uses that offer environmental benefits include carbon sequestration to help fix climate change gasses in soil and plant material, restoration of dredge spoil sites and innovative programs like Audubon’s “Sanctuary Program for Golf Courses.”

Energy Savings

Green roof technology that uses plantings to absorb water and cool the interior of buildings and the urban landscape has energy saving potential.

Studies have shown that green roofs can retain and use up to 63 percent of water that would normally run down rain gutters and contribute to stormwater problems.

Education

“At Octoraro Nursery we encourage visits by students and others to teach them about native plants and how they can be used,” said MacKenzie. “In managing our own growing operation, we use a restored, open water wetland to help control runoff that also serves as a teaching tool for others.”

Ethic

“We think helping people understand native plants and their benefits helps instill a ‘land ethic’ in our younger generation that helps them become better stewards of our environment,” said MacKenzie.

Mr. MacKenzie’s entire PowerPoint presentation is available online (7.7MB file).

Octoraro Nursery was founded in 1990 and specializes in raising container grown mid-Atlantic and Eastern regional native trees and shrubs for wholesale markets.

In addition to being President of Octoraro Nursery, MacKenzie serves on the board of the Pennsylvania Landscape and Nursery Association and is a member of the Pennsylvania Native Plant Society, the Pennsylvania Association of Environmental Professionals and serves as Vice-Chair of the Department of Environmental Protection’s State Water Planning Advisory Committee.

For more information on the Environmental Issues Forum contact the Joint Air and Water Pollution Control and Conservation Committee at 717-787-7570 or send email to: Craig D. Brooks, Executive Director, cbrooks@jcc.legis.state.pa.us .

Jim MacKenzie may be contacted at 717-529-3160 ext. 11, by sending email to: jim@octoraro.com or by visiting the Octoraro Native Plant Nursery website.

6/16/2006