PRESS RELEASE

Mountain Democrat
July 18, 2005

PARKER DEVELOPMENT COMPANY'S SERRANO COMMUNITY WINS MAJOR NATIONAL ARBOR DAY FOUNDATION AWARD

The 3,500-acre master-planned community of Serrano in El Dorado Hills has won a 2005 Award of Excellence from The National Arbor Day Foundation in recognition of its efforts to save trees during the development process.

According to The National Arbor Day Foundation, projects selected as winners in its annual Building With Trees program represent some of the finest work being done to integrate trees and natural features.

Bill Parker, president of Parker Development Company, the developer of Serrano, said they are honored by the award: "With a project such as Serrano, you can't simply measure its worth in dollars and cents. You couldn't live with yourself if you took a beautiful setting like Serrano - land dotted with majestic oak trees in the rolling Sierra foothills - and chopped it up. The beauty and integrity of the land are paramount."

The Building With Trees program is sponsored by The National Arbor Day Foundation in cooperation with the National Association of Home Builders and FireWise Communities. A Serrano representative will accept the Award of Excellence at the Building for Greener Communities National Conference in Nebraska City, Nebraska, in September.

For the past decade, Parker Development Company has taken care to protect and preserve as many trees as possible while developing Serrano. The strategy has been to build around trees whenever feasible; when trees must be removed, new ones are planted in open-space areas to replace them.

Not one heritage oak tree was removed in Serrano's custom home area, where estate-style residences are nestled among the trees. Roads were curved and narrowed in many areas of Serrano to accommodate heritage oaks, and these trees have become an integral part of the golf course's challenging terrain.

Heritage oaks are large, mature trees that have been living for perhaps a century or even more. Thousands of other oaks and various other tree species have also been saved during the development process.

Parker Development Company has established 17 miles of nature trails at Serrano, restoring wetlands, creeks, oak groves and cottonwood trees that had been impacted by ranching and mining activities long before Serrano was developed. Local children have even been enlisted to help. Oak Meadow Elementary School, an on-site public school at Serrano, participated in a cottonwood tree planting day earlier this year.

To date, Parker Development Company and Serrano residents have planted almost 50,000 new trees in the community, including an ongoing effort to collect, germinate and plant thousands upon thousands of oak acorns. And the tree planting will continue. In areas where the acorns plantings don't do well, the planting process is repeated to ensure a successful outcome.

Serrano has called upon the talents of outside experts to help conserve and protect trees, with Tree Care Inc. of Rancho Cordova the certified arborist in the Serrano development project.

For more information about the Serrano community and its nature preservation activities, please visit www.serranoeldorado.com.