Rain had been falling for the better part of the last week but on the morning of Wednesday, December 7^th, with the skies partially clear, the Mountain Rose Herbs Green Team was working to enhance the landscape at our new campus. By midday, we had carefully planted two Aspen, 24 Kinnikinnick, 34 Ponderosa, and 250 Camas bulbs into the expanding green space that makes up the western border of the property. Five staff members, working for a total of 10 hours, completed this work as part of our effort to build a vibrant landscape that blurs the lines between the commercial/industrial use of the facilities and an ecosystem that is representative of the southern Willamette Valley.

The landscaping at all Mountain Rose Herbs facilities focuses on three critical areas: native restoration, ecosystem impact mitigation and remediation, and aesthetic enhancement for the staff and community. We originally began at our current 3.5-acre headquarters location, we knew we needed to manage the impact that operating our business could have on the local and regional ecosystem due to landscaping decisions, rain runoff, and storm water management. We’ve blogged about the implementation and importance of our Bioswale and Rain Garden at our headquarters previously. Now our new campus is giving us an opportunity to expand on what we have learned about how to limit our impact on the environment.

The Mountain Rose Herbs Industrial Campus, a 12-acre site centrally located here in Eugene, presents us with new challenges. After nearly a century of industrial use, largely by the timber industry, this land has long needed to be managed harmoniously with the surrounding ecosystem. The land is adjacent to the Willamette River corridor and is part of the Willamette watershed, which is relied upon by native wildlife and all of us who call the Willamette Valley home. Therefore, our landscape design is intended to enhance the vitality of our region, while adding beauty to an otherwise utilitarian locale.

To accomplish this, we will be removing asphalt, eliminating a surplus of vehicle parking, and filling this space with a variety of deciduous and evergreen trees and shrubs. In doing so, we are working to sequester the carbon that previously would have been stored in the flora of the Willamette Valley before the area was developed for modern use. Our plan includes amending the soil and strategically installing rain gardens to slow, filter, and cool the flow of rain runoff from our facilities before it makes it to our creeks and rivers.

We are also installing a demonstration garden that will showcase a variety of botanicals that can be grown in our climate. This will help educate our staff and the community. Our intent is to help people begin to see plants and nature as an ally to depend on as opposed to a resource to be extracted and exploited.

Ultimately, we envision a space that balances the production needs of Mountain Rose Herbs with sustainable practices that put the planet first: a business model that recognizes all of us as an inseparable part of the natural world. In this model, running a thriving business over the long term means incorporating sustainable practices in the short term. At Mountain Rose Herbs, wildlife, water, air quality, and human health will never be second to making a profit.

We look forward to sharing more with you as the new Mountain Rose Herbs campus is developing and our mission of sustainability continues to guide us through every decision we make.