Industry Larger than Expected

OLYMPIA, WA

Washington State University has released figures that indicate that the green industry offers a much more significant contribution to the state's economy, particularly in Seattle, than previously thought. Photo by Nick Gunderson, provided courtesy of Seattle-King County News Bureau.

It generates more business income than the state's railroads, and more than the forestry and fishing industries combined. Washington State's landscape and nursery industry generated more than $842 million in landscape services and retail sails of plant materials, equipment and fertilizers during 1996-1997, according to a comprehensive survey conducted by Washington State University's Puyallup Research and Extension Center.

"We are representing an industry that no one had any idea how large it was," explained Steve McDonigal, Executive Director of the Washington State Nursery and Landscape Association. "Now public policymakers will realize the economic importance of the industry" in the Evergreen State.