A new study released by Washington State University indicates that the state landscape and nursery industry generates more gross business income than the state's railroads and more than the forestry and fishing industries combined. The state's green industry generated more than $842 million in sales of landscape services, retail sales, equipment and fertilizers during 1996-1997, according to the results of the most comprehensive survey to-date of the state green industry.

Wholesale operations accounted for nearly $282 million in sales, which is thirteen percent higher than estimates published by the Washington Agricultural Statistics Service for farm gate value of nursery and greenhouse products. "We are representing an industry, yet no one had any idea how large it was," explained Steve McGonigal, Executive Director of the Washington State Nursery and Landscape Association. "A lot of public policymakers do not realize the economic importance of this industry, the number of people it employs or the amount of taxes it generates. In 1992, when Seattle had a water shortage, the first thing they did was cut off all lawn watering. That nearly crushed our industry."

However, now business appears to be booming, and policy-makers are beginning to take notice of the economic contributions of the landscape industry to Washington State.

Photo by Nick Gunderson, provided courtesy of Seattle-King County News Bureau.