Broccolo Tree and Lawn Care is excited to offer Environmental Planning Services for site developers, engineering firms, and even individual land owners who want a sustainable landscape that preserves and promotes the health of our native landscapes and waterways.

Our partnership with environmentally-conscious engineering firms has resulted in restoration of habitats for native plants and wildlife, right in urban and developed areas.

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 Did you know Rochester NY is located within 100 miles of 20% of the world’s fresh water supply? Only 2.5 percent of the planet’s water is fresh, and just 1 percent of freshwater is found in lakes, rivers, soil, and air. Due to population growth, drought, and pollution, groundwater resources are seriously declining. 

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Rain Gardens

Broccolo is knowledgeable in the use of rain gardens for natural purification of runoff water for parking lots and urban areas, in an effort to preserve ground water quality.

Rain gardens are strategically-located low areas specifically designed to receive and soak up rainwater.

They capture storm water to soak naturally into the soil.

When rain gardens are properly designed, they divert the water from basements and other nearby underground structures.


Rain gardens can reduce the amount of water—and the pollutants that rain runoff can pick up along the way—carried into undersized stormwater systems, instead of back into the soil as they once were.

Depending on the size of the roof and the climate in which it is located, more than 20 thousand gallons of water can pour off a house’s roof each year.

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Green Roofs

Broccolo is knowledgeable about green roofs, which are aesthetically beautiful but also help reduce urban heat island effects, as well as sound and runoff water pollution.

Especially in urban areas, over 75% of a rain event can become surface runoff depositing pollutants into waterways.

Many older U.S. cities have combined stormwater and sanitary sewers where, in the event of a significant rainfall, the sewage treatment plant becomes unable to treat all of the excess stormwater flowing into it. Bypass valves are opened, and raw sewage can be directed to the receiving waters.

Green roofs help alleviate this problem through retention of rainfall and detention of roof water runoff.

Green roofs have been popular in Europe since the 1970’s. Today, Europeans have over 100 million square feet of planted roofs, and it is a rapidly growing industry (no pun intended!) in the U.S.

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The Most Beneficial Plants

We work closely with engineering firms to review commercial landscape plans before they go out for bid.

This review process ensures the proper plants are selected for each site, and that they are installed according to current industry standards. This review process results in fewer losses of plant material and a landscape that requires less pesticides to maintain.

We at Broccolo are committed to preserving and restoring our environment and our communities. Please call if you'd like more information about our environmental planning services.



Although water may seem like a boundless resource, it is far from it. Only 2.5 percent of the planet's water is fresh, and 74 percent of that is tied up in the polar icecaps. Groundwater accounts for another 25 percent, leaving just 1 percent of freshwater to be found in lakes, rivers, soil, and air. Due to population growth, drought, and pollution, groundwater resources are seriously declining. Today the world fights over oil; tomorrow (if not already) it will fight over water. — From “Rainwater Harvesting ” by Robin Simmen,
Plants & Gardens News Volume 20, Number 1 | Spring 2005

 

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