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2022 Regenerative Solutions for Resilient Landscapes
Thu, November 10 @ 8:30 am EST - 4:30 pm EST
Ecological Landscape Maintenance: Raising the Bar
Join the ELA for the 2022 R & R Conference, in person at Longwood Gardens
Thursday, November 10 @ 8:30 EDT-4:30 EDT
Please scroll down to register
Landscape maintenance is the low-profile heavy lifter that makes good design work. This conference will shine the light on the historically underappreciated field of maintenance. Invited speakers represent residential to large-scale, high-profile landscapes, both privately and publicly funded. These landscape professionals will share their expertise and experience focused on the importance of ecological landscape management. We are pleased to welcome Kate Austin from the City of Lancaster, PA, Gregg Tepper from Laurel Hill, Matt Benzie from Indigenous Ingenuities, and Rashid Poulson from Brooklyn Bridge Park.
At the end of the day, there will be an interactive panel with all the above speakers and presentations from Refugia Design and DCH Branches to Chances.
8:30: Registration
9:00: Kick off from ELA and Longwood
9:15: Kate Austin – Getting it Right: Lessons Learned in Green Infrastructure Maintenance
Insights gained from the field have been instrumental in the development of the City of Lancaster’s green infrastructure program. This session will present maintenance strategies, design innovations, inspection and monitoring protocols and program management developed over the last ten years of green infrastructure implementation and maintenance. Project successes and failures have led to resourceful retrofits to improve performance of previously installed green infrastructure systems, as well as dynamic new designs that ensure ease and functionality of long-term maintenance. Featured projects will include curbside bumpouts, bioretention areas, porous pavements, subsurface infiltration beds, and green roofs.
Q & A to follow
10:30: Gregg Tepper – Nature’s Sanctuary: A Unique, Managed-Succession Landscape
Join Horticulturist Gregg Tepper for a rich presentation inspired by Nature’s Sanctuary at Laurel Hill West. Much more than a green burial site, Nature’s Sanctuary is a diverse ecosystem that invites us to consider its many interconnected aspects and how humans, utilizing best management practices, are part of them.
This presentation will cover the mutual benefits of Nature’s Sanctuary from the use of native plants, their wildlife value, and its SITES Gold certification to how resources like air, water and soil are preserved and improved. Gregg will also explain green burial and the unique, managed-succession approach that this special place of eternal rest will undergo over time. Learn how this award-winning landscape is thoughtfully stewarded to be both a place for those that have passed and one of beauty for those that are living.
Q & A to follow
11:45 : Matt Benzie and Rashid Paulson – Highly Skilled Landscape Maintenance & New Directions in Leadership
Matthew Benzie is the owner of Indigenous Ingenuities and an ISA certified Arborist. After acquiring a degree in Landscape Architecture in 2006, Matthew set out to work in a variety of construction industries across the eastern seaboard with the aim to learn about horticulture, construction and environmental awareness, until landing back in Doylestown, PA to start his company in 2013.
A Brooklyn native, Rashid Poulson is Acting Director of Horticulture at Brooklyn Bridge Park Corporation (BBP). His career in horticulture began as a Million Trees Training Program alumni in NYC, where he studied and practiced arboriculture, urban landscape design, and ecological restoration. He spent some time as a Seasonal Gardener for the Friends of The HighLine where he learned some new approaches for how modern parks and gardens can function in the urban landscape. From there his work at BBP started back in 2012 as a seasonal gardener. Elevating through the positions of Full Time Gardener and Supervisor, he was able to experience the various roles and responsibilities that would be necessary to care for the park’s variety of green spaces and ecosystems. In these positions he was an active green roof gardener and as well as managed the park’s wetlands. His current role as Acting Director focuses on the management, training, and development of the Horticulture Staff; and spreading the lore of the park’s horticulture through tours, presentations, and community engagement. Still, he guides and participants in work such as the extensive winter pruning phase annually, allowing him to maintain a connection with his staff, community, and the landscape he has been connected to for almost a decade.
Q & A to follow
1:00PM: Lunch Break
2:30: Speaker Panel moderated by Julie Snell with presentations from Refugia Design “Stewarding with Nature” and Delaware Center for Horticulture “Workforce Development”
Refugia is an ecological landscape design/build and stewardship firm, with our design office and greenhouse facility located in
Bala Cynwyd, PA. Since 2015, Refugia has been offering distinctive native landscape design for both residential and commercial green spaces throughout the Greater Philadelphia Area and Jersey Shore. Annual major exhibitor and award-winners at the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society’s Philadelphia Flower Show, Refugia is known for an immersive, naturalistic design aesthetic and meadow expertise at projects ranging in size from city yards to suburban estates.
The Delaware Center for Horticulture will be presenting on their program “Branches to Chances.” Branches to Chances® (BTC)
hires and trains unemployed, underemployed, and/or previously incarcerated individuals for entry-level positions in the horticulture industry. They will be presenting on this program and the workforce development offered by DCH.
Q & A to follow
4:15: Wrap-up
Are you interested in sponsoring? For more information CLICK HERE
About the Venue
Longwood Gardens is a botanical garden that consists of over 1,077 acres of gardens, woodlands, and meadows in Kennett Square, PA. Lunch will be available for purchase from Longwood’s on-site restaurant. Attendees are encouraged to enjoy the facilities during lunch.
