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What does sustainability mean to you,
and why do you believe it’s important?
Sustainability has almost become a buzzword during
my lifetime, and in a way it has lost some of its core
meaning. Sustainability should be viewed in a context
of maintainability. A project, program, or material
can be labeled as sustainable at its outset, but to be
truly sustainable it must also be maintained in a func-
tional state and serve its intended purpose.
How is sustainability incorporated into your position?
Sustainability is something I think about daily. I make decisions impacting sustainability by the hour if not more. Plant
selection and landscape design are loaded with decisions in which I take sustainability into account. Landscape design
also has a large impact on the maintainability of our City plantings. The era of spraying every weed and pest with one
chemical or another is thankfully behind us, but this also comes with the need for increased forethought. We must
consider how easy something will be to maintain when redesigning our city landscape and keeping the sustainable tools
we have at our disposal in mind.
What actions have you taken to improve sustainability within your position?
One of the first things I started working on when I began working for the City two years ago was creating a
plant list. I have continued to refine the list which includes tree, shrub, and perennial species that will promote the sus-
tainability of our plantings throughout the city. We stress tree diversity at the genus level of plant classification in order
to prevent future problems like those that Dutch Elm Disease and Emerald Ash Borer have caused in the past.
At the shrub and perennial level we incorporate many plants, native and non-native, which grow well together
and support pollinators throughout the city. The ‘New Perennial Design’ style uses perennials that grow in harmony
and meld together to outcompete weeds. The planting style also limits or eliminates the need for mulch, water, fertiliz-
er, and pesticide.
We have limited the use of annual flowers to highly visible areas downtown and in a few parks. Annuals are
great colorful additions to any landscape but their short lifespan makes them less sustainable. We have also limited our
inputs of water and fertilizer in our annual plantings. Watering is limited to dry summer weather and fertilizer is mostly
in the form of leaf mulch collected the previous autumn.
Lastly, we have increased our division wide efforts to get out into the public and educate on topics including
sustainability. I have personally presented at the community, state, and Midwest level on various topics, all of which
incorporated sustainability as a major theme.
What efforts can be made to improve sustainability within our com-
munity?
Continued education of the public regarding the importance of plant diversity and appre-
ciation of the natural world will be important for a sustainable future.
For more information about the City of Iowa City’s sustainability efforts, visit
www.icgov.org/sustainability, subscribe to our Sustainable Iowa City newsletter at
www.icgov.org/e-subscriptions, or follow #SustainableIC on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.
Sustainability Spotlight:
Tyler Baird
Senior Maintenance Worker and Horticultural Specialist