Colorado Green Now

The latest ALCC news, including Colorado Green NOW articles, legislative updates, and programming announcements. 

ASLA Colorado/Wyoming celebrates 50 years Email
Written by Colorado Green Now   
Tuesday, October 10, 2023 12:00 AM

Colorado Green Now

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Colorado Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects Colorado/Wyoming (ASLA CO/WY), founded in 1973. (New Mexico was part of the group when it was founded but has since left.)


Licensing of landscape architects in Colorado owes much to Jane Silverstein Ries, who worked to establish a Colorado licensing authority in the 1960s. After the Landscape Architect Registration Act passed in Colorado, Ries became the first woman to be certified as a licensed landscape architect in the state in 1968. Before the Colorado Chapter was formed, Ries served as the first president of ASLA Rocky Mountain Chapter. Her legacy continues to be recognized with the Jane Silverstein Ries Foundation, ASLA CO/WY’s charitable nonprofit.

Through members’ work dedicated to enhancing natural and built environments, the association continues to promote development, education and awareness of the landscape architecture profession in Colorado and Wyoming. ASLA CO/WY celebrated the milestone at the Washington Park Boathouse in Denver in July.

 
Colorado Water Plan protects precious resource for future generations Email
Written by Katie Weeman   
Tuesday, October 10, 2023 12:00 AM

Colorado Green Now

Water conservation at the local level is a critical and ongoing focus of the Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB) and the Colorado Water Plan, essential to help reduce the risk of future municipal shortages and keep water in our streams. The CWCB supports water conservation efforts through funding, programs and special initiatives that help Colorado envision and realize a more water-wise future. The CWCB funds many projects through the Colorado Water Plan Grant program, and Conservation and Land Use is one of the categories within that grant program. The Water Plan also speaks to the importance of advancing water conservation, land use planning, and alternative water supplies (e.g., water reuse). Consequently, the CWCB funds many entities working to advance these efforts, whether building local capacity to institute water smart land use policies, investing in big xeriscaping projects, or even developing a mobile direct potable reuse demonstration trailer.  


Programmatically, the CWCB often runs conservation-oriented efforts. In fact, the CWCB runs the nation’s largest voluntary water loss training program, an initiative that helps cities reduce water loss in their delivery systems. It also manages the state’s new Turf Replacement Program, which provides matching funds to eligible entities (e.g. water utilities) to advance local turf removal projects or rebates. 

The CWCB also takes on many special initiatives, some of which are outlined in the agency actions in the water plan. Often CWCB’s efforts are multifaceted. For example, Action 1.7 of the water plan identifies turf replacement as essential to support transformative landscape change and reduce municipal water use while maintaining resilient, livable, and attractive outdoor environments. To help understand how to advance these efforts, Colorado Governor Jared Polis tasked CWCB with managing a 21-person Urban Landscape Conservation Task Force to explore what suite of tools might exist or need to be considered to help to continue to drive down outdoor water use while still maintaining benefits that range from housing affordability to protecting trees and pollinators. The task force will continue to meet through the end of 2023 with the goal of producing a final set of considerations in the new year. 

Across all these efforts, CWCB remains committed to its mission: to conserve, develop, protect and manage Colorado’s water for present and future generations. As part of this, a clear focus on reducing outdoor water use and building tomorrow’s landscapes today means more closely aligning land use plans, water use, and water conservation. Learn more about what CWCB is up to at cwcb.colorado.gov or engage cwcb.org.

 
Turf Replacement: Education Matters! Email
Written by Lisa Pace   
Tuesday, October 10, 2023 12:00 AM

Colorado Green Now

Turf replacement is expensive—costing anywhere from $2 to $15 per square foot—and doesn’t always guarantee water savings. In April, Colorado Springs Utilities set out to establish a turf replacement program for residential customers that’s affordable, guarantees water savings and ensures a resilient landscape change.


After much research and customer feedback, we established the following:

• When homeowners are having trouble maintaining their lawn, they are more willing to consider water-wise landscape options.

• Transitioning non-essential turf to native grasses is the most resilient, appealing option.

• A DIY conversion to native grass is a reasonably priced landscape change and something our customers want.

• Promoting a full-irrigation zone change along with free, high-efficiency nozzles best supports efficient water management.

Educating customers on how to do all of this work is the most important factor! Based on this, we created a program that provides:

• An initial education session about native grass and how to convert your lawn that sets expectations for what it will take to be successful and what to expect through establishment, accompanied by a DIY manual

• Multiple check-in sessions across the landscape transition period to answer customer questions and provide support, ensuring that customers feel confident doing the work.

• A second educational session to train customers on irrigation efficiency and provide free, high-efficiency nozzle replacements for the transition area

• Free native grass seed after customers determine the right grass type for their conversion project and demonstrate (through photos) that they have removed turf grass.

Given the amount of media attention turf replacement has received in Colorado, we knew it would be easy to get customers interested in this program. With very little promotion, we quickly had 300 sign-ups. About 250 customers attended our first class, and 135 moved to the second education class, received irrigation head upgrades and placed native grass seed orders. In early June, we handed out native seed, and about 75 customers have received seed. To learn more, visit csu.org/Pages/Events/ TurfReplacementProgram.aspx. |

 
Thought leaders retreat explores innovation and the future of work Email
Written by Steve Steele   
Monday, September 25, 2023 12:00 AM

Colorado Green Now

Char Farley Chacon, division manager at Denver-based Designscapes, a member of the ALCC’s board of directors and the committee chair for ALCC’s Women in Green, is challenging barriers to the advancement of women in the green industry. Well-known across Colorado for her fierce commitment to ALCC’s LatiKNOWs diversity and empowerment program, which gives people across organizations the tools they need to better navigate the leadership landscape, Chacon is quickly becoming a rising industry star on the national level. 


At this year’s Thought Leaders Retreat, held at the Fontainebleau Resort in Miami Beach, Florida, Chacon shared the floor with Heidi Dillon, regional manager of DeSantis Landscapes in Oregon, and Leslie Herndon, president of Greenscape in North Carolina. The panel examined the question of differentiation, exploring how landscape companies can deliver unique value if they are all doing the same things, using the same tools and technologies, and applying the same best practices.

Chacon said unique value starts with reducing opportunity inequities through mentoring and advocacy, as well as finding understanding and common ground. The leadership path can only be lit, Chacon said, when everyone speaks the same language. At Designscapes, that means professional development, training and language lessons. The company subsidizes a bilingual education program, with classes held weekly, that has been well received by the employees.

The Designscapes language program builds morale, camaraderie and communication in and out of the field and helps the company attract new employees and assist recipients of the firm’s Permanent Residency Program, which eases some of the uncertainty of H2B. To date, Chacon said, Designscapes has sponsored and helped 60 employees to become U.S. residents. Leadership presents an opportunity and a responsibility for people at all levels to be better role models, Chacon said. Leaders should empower fresh thinking, lift people up and allow every individual to flourish and succeed. Thought Leaders Retreat explores innovation and the future of work.

This year’s Thought Leaders Retreat, an annual event produced by Bruce Wilson & Co., one of the green industry’s largest and oldest advisory firms, broke records for sponsorship and attendance. Colorado was represented by delegates from Designscapes, Fort Collins-based Lindgren Landscapes and Denver-based Lifescape Colorado. Boulder tech firm TeamEngine and Denver-based Scythe Robotics were among the event’s sponsors. Michael Mayberry, customer success lead at Scythe, was a featured speaker on innovation, the guiding theme of the Thought Leaders conference and its focus on the future of work.

Bruce Wilson wrapped up the two-and-a-half-day event with a call to action: “Every organization needs bold inventiveness. But creativity is only half of what gets us to the other side of the box. This time is dedicated to how to create an innovation culture, how to inspire the next great idea and how to improve our capacity to innovate by asking what we would do differently if we knew anything’s possible?”

Read more in this issue of Colorado Green Now:

Legislative update

Stop the Insanity!

 
Legislative update Email
Written by Colorado Green Now   
Monday, September 25, 2023 12:00 AM

Colorado Green Now

Make your voice heard on proposed gas-powered equipment restrictions

The Regional Air Quality Council (RAQC) is moving forward on its recommended ban of handheld 10-horsepower lawn and garden equipment starting in 2025. ALCC, GreenCO and NALP are engaged in the conversations with RAQC and other stakeholders. The proposal would prohibit public entities within the Denver Metro/North Front Range ozone nonattainment area (and the lawn and garden services they contract) from using small gasoline-powered push and hand-held equipment between June 1 and August 31. Landscapers would have to switch to Make your voice heard on proposed gas-powered equipment restrictions electric lawn mowers, leaf blowers and chain saws, but homeowners would still be allowed to use them.


The restriction would not apply to large gas-powered riding equipment and tractors, or equipment used during a declared emergency or storm cleanup.

ALCC is working with GreenCO and NALP on strategies and action to help protect the Colorado landscape industry’s interests in this discussion. In 2022, ALCC, GreenCO and NALP successfully lobbied against legislation that would have banned the sale of gas-powered lawn equipment in areas that aren’t meeting federal ozone standards. Instead, the Colorado Legislature passed an amended bill that requires state environmental regulators to develop a financial incentive program for electric power equipment.

The RAQC recommendation must go through many more steps before the ban would take effect. ALCC will send a survey asking about potential impacts on your business in the coming weeks. The public can comment on the draft regulations at https://raqc. org/elg-comments. For more information, visit raqc.org. 

 

 
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