Dave Barnett recently retired from Mount Auburn Cemetery, where he spent 28 years leading the transition to more ecologically friendly landscape design and maintenance practices. Dave will share examples of how the staff at Mount Auburn converted many areas of labor-intensive and carbon-intensive lawns to various lower-maintenance meadow and groundcover plantings. Most of these changes were small-scale projects, ranging from a butterfly/pollinator garden to plantings of groundcovers, perennials and shrubs that both reduced mowing needs and greatly enhanced the ecological value to pollinators, birds and other wildlife.

Dave started at Mount Auburn Cemetery in 1993 as Director of Horticulture, was promoted to Vice President of Operations & Horticulture in 1999, and then became President & CEO in 2008. After 28 years at Mount Auburn, he retired in September 2021. Prior to Mount Auburn, Dave held various other positions in the field of public horticulture. His educational background includes a B.S. in Environmental Horticulture from the University of Connecticut, and an M.S. in Environmental Horticulture and a Ph.D. in Ecology from the University of California, Davis. Honors Dave has received include the American Public Gardens Association’s Honorary Life Member Award, the Garden Club of America’s Distinguished Service Medal, and the Massachusetts Horticultural Society’s Gold Medal.

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