UC Davis is committed to fostering sustainable places that…includes the outdoor campus landscape, gateways to the Davis community and a network of natural reserves elsewhere in California that UC Davis manages.

Discovering and demonstrating new ways to manage water efficiently not only saves campus oerating costs, but serves as a model for a water-strapped state.

California Buffalograss, developed by scientists at UC Davis and UC Riverside, is literally adding more green to campus in an efficient way.

California Buffalograss grass needs only about 25 percent the amount of water used for other turf grasses. The grass was included in the landscaping of the new Maurice J. Gallagher Hall, home to the UC Davis Graduate School of Management, in part to meet the Gold-level certification by the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Environmental and Energy Design (LEED).

In addition to being water-efficient, California Buffalograss is also extremely tough and dense with strong disease and insect resistance, which reduces the need for chemical applications, weeding or other maintenance. Because the grass variety grows very slowly in comparison to other varieties, it also needs to be mowed far less frequently.

Click here for the full article and click here to read more about their installation of California Buffalograss.