DriWater Inc. donates to Friends of the Urban Forest (FUF)

September 27, 2010, San Francisco, CA - DriWater is participating with Friends of the Urban Forest (FUF) this Saturday, October 2 on an urban tree planting project in the Sunset District of San Francisco. DriWater is donating DriWater Tube & Gel Pacs to help establish 10 of the 30 trees being planted to increase survival rates and ensure adequate moisture for the trees during the critical establishment period. Local neighborhood groups are volunteering to assist FUF with the urban tree planting effort and provide ongoing watering of the trees for three years. DriWater is working with Doug Wildman, Program Director, FUF and Sally Bentz, Planting Manager on this project. For more information on Friends of the Urban Forest see: http://www.fuf.net/index.html DriWater, Inc. has developed the commercial and retail markets for DRiWATER in the United States, and is working in more than 30 countries around the world.  DRiWATER used as a plant irrigation alternative helps turn deserts into forests, enables food to be grown where it was not previously possible, and helps to combat global warming while conserving one of Earth’s most precious resources—water.

Tall Pot Planting Program

Common Vision and DriWater

Check out this link to find out what Common Vision is doing...

Common Vision

or check out http://www.commonvision.org/

DriWater Planting Video

Welcome Our New Team Members!

Douglas Anthony recently joined DriWater as the Northern California Territory Manager responsible for commercial sales activities in San Francisco Bay Area, north of Sacramento and south to San Luis Obispo.

Prior to joining DriWater, Doug was a Sustainability Consultant for Green Energy Solutions providing energy, water and waste reduction solutions to commercial customers in the Bay Area. Doug is also a Board Member of the Northern California Recycling Association (NCRA) and has an interest in greening public events by providing EZ-Lite recycling stations to organizations such as the North Bay Conservation Corps and the Marin County Fair to help them increase recycling, composting and waste diversion efforts.

In his spare time, Doug enjoys mountain biking, hiking and spending time outdoors with his daughter, Taylor.

 ____________________________________________________

 

Lawrence O'Leary has worked in the outdoor water field on farms to landscapes for 30 years including two decades with The Toro and Rain Bird companies. He has multi-faceted experience providing professional sales, specification and collaboration services in helping the State reach its 20% water use reduction by 2020. 

Lawrence is a frequent speaker and educator on water conservation concepts for water professionals.  He is a former board member of the U.S. Green Building Council, San Diego Chapter.  He holds a degree in Agricultural Plant Sciences from Fresno State and has taught Soil Sciences at Cuyamaca College in El Cajon, CA for nearly a decade.  He co-chairs the Legislative subcommittee of the San Diego based Conservation Action Council.  Lawrence is also active in developing fully funded green jobs for Urban and Conservation Corps members.

He and his wife live near the foothills in San Diego County.  They physically and financially support local river, ocean and forest restoration organizations.  Their vegetable garden has been expended to the front yard and is successfully and sustainably "irrigated" with DriWater.  ____________________________________________________

Heidi Lynn Lechner comes to us with a varied background as a marketing professional.  She has been an independent consultant for the past few years with an emphasis on SEO (search engine optimization) and Online Marketing.  She also was Marketing Manager for Environmental Resolutions Inc., a water remediation and environmental consulting company.  Heidi's focus is on growing our social media presence, updating our website and getting the word out! Look for one of her articles to be published in Irrigation and Green Industry News!

Heidi enjoys singing, massage, her great kids and will be changing her last name soon to Archer! Here comes the bride!

My trip to Independence Pass this week... by Debbra Stokes

25,000 lodgepole seedlings planted by IPF Volunteers after the site had been hydroseeded

 

 

 

As I stood and watched these kids plant a variety of native shrubs and lodgepole pines I heard what was music to my ears! A chorus of "Hey, who has the DriWater?", or 'I need DriWater over here!", and my personal favorite, "I can't plant this tree without DriWater". For these kids, and former middle school voluteers, DriWater has been "the way their plants are watered." And they take the lives of the plants they put in the ground very seriously. I listened to girls who named their seedlings, wrote the names on rocks and placed the rocks as what they hoped would be a permanant name marker for anyone who might visit their trees in the future.

Hyrdroseeded and Planted Road Cut - Beautiful!

This week I was blessed not only by a terrific trip to Colorado to hear about 35 years of sagebrush restoration research done at CSU but by a drive up to Independence Pass to watch a group of Aspen middle school kids doing their part this year to restore the pass to its original beauty. These kids come once a year to plant native vegetation in areas that were devasted by years of mining at a time when we understood little about the possible impacts to our environment.

Two Year Old Lodgepole Pine Seedlings
established with DriWater

Independence Pass Foundation (IPF) has beenworking to restore the beauty and safety of Independence Pass for 20 years. 

As I looked around I saw areas once without any vegetation covered now with native grasses, wildflowers and lodgepole pines. I have included a few pictures of my travel through IP and the healthy plants now growing there.

For more information on Independence Pass Foundation (IPF) check out the website: http://www.independencepass.org/

Mark Fuller, Executive Director of IPF
since 1996 and Me

You can also watch a short film on the history of the pass and the restoration efforts begun 20 years ago by biologist Bob Lewis, Ramona Markalunas, King Woodward and James Peterson, all who were instramental in the formation of IPF. Today efforts are led by Mark Fuller, IPF's Executive Director since 1996. Mark not only oversees maintenance on all completed projects, plans for ongoing and new stablization and revegetation projects, maintains liasion between the Board of Trustees and other agency relations, plans for the annual 'Ride for the Pass', and directs the school children educational planting program.

Applying DriWATER to a Tree Planting

Planting in Late Summer - A Break Though Study

Santa Rosa, CA - A recent study done by DriWater Inc. Santa Rosa, CA, determined the benefits of planting native plants at different times during the late summer and early fall. The theory was to plant the native species in late summer to allow the plants to push roots before the winter began. This would provide two benefits in native plant establishment.  First, planting in August enables the plant to push more root development before winter rains.  The increased root development allows for better water and nutrient uptake the following spring and summer.  Second, broadening the planting season resolves project delay due to rains in early winter.  DriWater Inc.'s time-released water gel (DRiWATER® Plus™) with enriched nutrients was used to deliver water to these plants over a 90 day period from August to November in 2009.  Giving plants 90-days of consistent moisture with DRiWATER® Plus™ plants were able to establish 69% greater root volume over plantings that were hand watered. Controls of the same species were hand-watered 2.5 gallons on a weekly regime. The test concluded that DRiWATER® Plus™ delivered better results than hand watering. Planting in late summer/early fall produced excellent root mass growth and survival for these plants. DRiWATER® Plus™  consists of 98% purified water and 2% food grade ingredients. It is bound in the form of a gel-like solid that provides consistent subsurface irrigation to plants up to three months!  DRiWATER® Plus™ is natural and completely non-toxic. There is more good news and added benefit to this study and that is water-savings. For every 1-Quart of DRiWATER® Plus™ used 130-Quarts of water was saved! A large part of the study was to see if by planting in August the roots would be established well enough, not only to carry the plant through winter, but also through the following growing season with only a single application of  DRiWATER® Plus™. This conserves water and reduces labor costs for watering. DriWater, Inc. has developed the commercial and retail markets for DRiWATER in the United States, and is working in more than 30 countries around the world.  DRiWATER used as a plant irrigation alternative helps turn deserts into forests, enables food to be grown where it was not previously possible, and helps to combat global warming while conserving one of Earth’s most precious resources—water.

California ReLeaf » DriWater Donates Product for Arbor Day

California ReLeaf » DriWater Donates Product for Arbor Day

E ’s Green Home Picks

E ’s Green Home Picks

Going away? Plant-sitters you don't have to pay!

Going away? Plant-sitters you don't have to pay

This article has some great suggestions for what to do for your plants while you are on vacation.

DriWater on CNN