Heralded as the first true hillside community to grace the Southern Nevada landscape, MacDonald Highlands stands as one of Las Vegas’ premier high-end communities, coveted by those who desire the whole package – a place that promises top quality luxury homes surrounded by a breathtaking environment.  Once completed, MacDonald Highlands will consist of 17 distinct neighborhoods.

To achieve the delicate balance between the “Desert Elegance” architectural theme of its impressive homes and the existing beauty of the surrounding nature in which they sit, developer Richard MacDonald turned to Soil-Tech and its restoration division, Native Resources, to provide color mitigation and native revegetation services for the 1,200-acre project. For the past 20 years, Soil-Tech has stood as the largest company of its kind in Nevada and has enjoyed a rock-solid reputation as the leader in environmental restoration in the greater Southwest.

"It's been great working with Soil-Tech, they have a real feel for recreating the natural environment which is central to a development like MacDonald Highlands.  Without them our community would not have that natural look that is so important to DragonRidge and MacDonald Highlands." said Rich MacDonald, developer of MacDonald Highlands.

Along with its scenic goals, MacDonald Highlands strives to employ environmentally safe practices on its site. “Going Green” is at the forefront of every developer’s master blueprint and providing environmentally friendly aesthetics and promoting responsible building practices has become the norm to ensure the success of any project.  Jerry Stanley, president and founder of Soil-Tech, has developed an assortment of environmentally friendly and cost effective products and techniques that have become essential to developers searching for ways to mitigate dust pollution and use less water than traditional watering techniques on their sites.

“For developers, the responsibility of keeping the environment healthy is no longer a niche, or a luxury, it’s the way of doing business,” said Stanley. “While helping and educating developers like MacDonald on alternatives to traditional techniques, we feel like we’re doing our part for the environment by conserving water, our most valuable resource,” said Stanley.

Soil-Tech has provided color mitigation and native revegetation services for MacDonald Highlands since the birth of the development. From the outset, MacDonald has established an ordinance to integrate a uniform setting to the existing development and its future construction. Desiring an earthy, rich patina as a testament to the beauty of the Mojave Desert that surrounds the site, Soil-Tech applied its signature product, Permeon™ Simulated Desert Varnish on most of the rock cuts, walls, and slopes that exist on the hillside. Permeon™ is a product that simulates the hard crust of desert soil, which takes years to form naturally, on the surface of rock outcroppings and boulders to restore them to their original color and brightness that is present in the desert environment, while successfully assimilating items such as concrete abutments, thus creating a seamless appearance to the overall landscape. Wildly successful in Soil-Tech’s projects, Permeon™ has become the leading product in most color mitigation projects in the Southwest.

“Not only do the ingredients of Permeon™ make it an environmentally safe application, the resulting finish is permanent and weather-resistant,” said Stanley.
Around the existing home communities and, most notably, MacDonald Highlands’ premier golf course, DragonRidge, Soil-Tech provided revegetation services, a process which involves salvaging and nursing indigenous shrubs before and during the construction process. Once construction has moved to the next phase, Soil-Tech personnel then re-enter the site and replant the vegetation into its native soil. The areas are then hydroseeded to help the transition of native grasses and shrubs back into the land, while disturbed areas are treated with rock mulch, vegetation and seeding.  It was important for MacDonald Highlands to preserve the scenic desert hillside for golf enthusiasts to enjoy.

“Developers are catching on to the environmental benefits of using native revegetation on its sites as opposed to traditional landscaping, because once native plants and shrubs are replanted, there is minimal to no watering required,” explained Stanley.
“We also work in a maintenance capacity,” said Stanley. “As construction continues East from DragonRidge, we’ve had to go in and restore what we have essentially already restored.”

MacDonald has effectively used Soil-Tech’s services to showcase his creativity and out-of-the-box thinking. For example, he asked Soil-Tech to treat some of the shattered rock pieces left over from the construction with Permeon™, which he then used as road barriers around construction areas creating an attractive appearance of similarity for residents during the construction process.

“MacDonald is also famous for his spec homes that he has designed and built from the ground up,” said Stanley. “This has been a fun project for us aside from the main development work, as we have set up little details like Permeon™ treated rocks that lead up to the unique hot tubs. We have also created rock walkways and roadways that connect each community within MacDonald Highlands.” 

As MacDonald Highlands moves on with the creation of its one-of-a-kind community, Soil-Tech will be along to provide its invaluable service and environmental expertise.

“We started with the DragonRidge Golf Course and we are now progressing from phase to phase with the development, until all 17 communities are established,” said Stanley. “For us, it's more than just showing up to the site and working, we are partners with our clients as the project unfolds until its ultimate finish and we take pride in the part our services play in the overall look of the development.”