Vai Campbell Memorial Update

Here are photos Chris Elliot would like to share of the Vail Campbell Memorial project that CLCA Central Coast helped to install last year. It is nice to see how it has matured.

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Where Lawns Are Outlawed (and Dug Up and Carted Away)

With drought and growth taking a toll on the Colorado River, the source of 90 percent of the region’s water, a new law in Las Vegas mandates the removal of turf, patch by patch.—By Henry Fountain, with photographs by Joe Buglewicz

The New York Times, May 3, 2022

Henry Fountain and Joe Buglewicz ventured far from Las Vegas’s famed Strip to learn how the city’s residents are being forced to adapt to limited water supplies.

LAS VEGAS — It was a perfectly decent patch of lawn, several hundred square feet of grass in a condominium community on this city’s western edge. But Jaime Gonzalez, a worker with a local landscaping firm, had a job to do.

Wrangling a heavy gas-powered sod cutter, Mr. Gonzalez sliced the turf away from the soil underneath, like peeling a potato. Two co-workers followed, gathering the strips for disposal.

Mr. Gonzalez took little pleasure in destroying this patch of fescue. “But it’s better to replace it with something else,” he said. The ground would soon be covered with gravel dotted with plants like desert spoon and red yucca.

Under a state law passed last year that is the first of its kind in the nation, patches of grass like this, found along streets and at housing developments and commercial sites in and around Las Vegas, must be removed in favor of more desert-friendly landscaping.

Read more here… or here on Yahoo.

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San Benito County Implementing Mandatory Water Conservation Measures

Article by Feliux Cortez, for KSBW 8 News

SAN BENITO COUNTY, Calif.

With the state in a drought emergency and the San Luis Reservoir at record lows, San Benito County water managers are implementing mandatory water conservation measures throughout the county.

“It's just a really tough situation that we're dealing with but, I mean, there is need for conserving water and trying to do your best that way we have the water for the needs the resources that we need it for,” said Darren Leach, a cattle rancher in Paicines. Link to full announcement.

About MWELO

The California Landscape Contractors Association was involved in the creation of the Water Conservation in Landscaping Act (Assembly Bill 325, Clute), which was signed in to law in 1990. This led to additional work 14 years later on Assembly Bill 2717, which passed in 2004. This bill requested that the California Urban Water Conservation Council (CUWCC) convene a stakeholder task force, comprised of public and private agencies, to re-evaluate landscape water conservation and recommend proposals for improving the efficiency of water use in new and urban landscapes in California.Webinars: MWELO Essential Elements Workshop Series (MEEWS)…read more here.

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There are webinars that address the Model Water Efficient Landscape Ordinance’s (MWELO) essential elements. MWELO Trainings can be found online at CLCA’s site: https://www.clca.org/industry-resources/mwelo/

Learning Objectives:

• Receive knowledge of MWELO’s most important elements.

  1. Receive knowledge of the watershed approach, plants, soil, irrigation, water budgeting and integrated pest management.

  2. Receive knowledge of overall water efficient landscape best management practices (BMPs).

Verified attendees of the live version of these webinars received CEUs for APLD, AWWA, IA, ISA, NALP and QWEL. Viewing these as recorded webinars may count for CEUs for some self-reporting certifications like NALP, QWEL and AWWA. Recommendation: Check with your certification provider to be sure.

https://www.clca.org/events/meews20200519/

MWELO Certification Trainings For Spring 2022

Maintenance Qualification Training - May 3, 4, 5, 10, 11, 12 - 8am-12pm
This training provides landscape maintenance professionals with practical tools to manage healthy landscapes. Learn about regenerative landscape practices from leading experts in soil health, irrigation, plant care, integrated pest management, and more. 

Design/Maintenance Qualification Renewal Training - June 2 - 8am-2pm
ReScape wants you to dig in the soil! For our renewal trainings we will be identifying several practicum sites for you to refresh your soil assessment skills, measure out irrigation, identify native plants, refresh your knowledge of MWELO and SB 1383 and more. Stay tuned as we confirm the landscapes that will be regenerated! 

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If you’d like to learn more about the Model Water Efficient Landscape Ordinance (MWELO) and topics like water use efficiency, urban water use efficiency, Model Water Efficient Landscape Ordinance and available programs please go to the California Department of Water Resources to learn more.

Ecology Action Qualified Water Efficient Landscaper (QWEL)

Ecology Action has organized a Qualified Water Efficient Landscaper (QWEL) training sponsored by our local water utilities and in partnership with Watsonville Adult Ed. We decided to combine the bilingual Green Gardener training with QWEL, to allow people who are aren't quite ready for the scheduling math/auditing component of QWEL to still take course and earn Green Gardener certification. Registration and info is live at qwel.net. See flyer below:

Water Conservation Coalition Seeking Applicants

Water Conservation Coalition is seeking applicants for the Monterey Bay Friendly Landscaping - Climate Victory Garden Grant program.

https://green-gardener.org/rebates/monterey-bay-friendly-landscaping-grants/

This was the same source of funding that made Vai Campbell's Memorial Garden possible. If CLCA has an idea for a community service project in 2022, this could be a good way to get some extra funding and community involvement. See flyer below:

2022 Spring-Summer Professional Trainings

Maintenance Qualification Training 

May 3, 4, 5, 10, 11, 12 8am-12pm
This training provides landscape maintenance professionals with practical tools to manage healthy landscapes. Learn about regenerative landscape practices from leading experts in soil health, irrigation, plant care, integrated pest management, and more. 

MWELO for Landscape Designers & Architects  

May 18 8:30am-12:30pm 
Experts will walk you through the permit application process and explain the basics of MWELO, the different compliance pathways, plan submittal requirements, inspection/audit requirements while addressing the top 100 most asked questions regarding plants, irrigation, soil, mulch, water features and more.  

Firescaping Qualification Training 

June 6, 7 9am-1pm 
The course provides comprehensive best practices in regenerative landscaping, specifically oriented to reducing fire hazards and preparing cities and large property owners/managers for safety before, during and after a firestorm. Douglas Kent, author of the best-selling book on landscaping for fire protection, "Firescaping," will be teaching the course. 

View Our Calendar

RQP Renewal Opportunity, Apply by April 30th to Attend.

Attend 3+ ReScape Earth Day Celebration Events 
Along with professional paid membership, RQPs must submit verification that they have continued their regenerative landscape education by participating in trainings or events- classes, webinars, etc.- aligned with ReScape 8 Principles. 3 hours of CEU’s and a paid professional membership are required to renew ReScape Qualification for one year. 
 
Limited time opportunity: The ReScape Earth Day 2022 online events are free and will be celebrating each of our 8 Principles. Event times, lengths and formats are diverse and we’re expanding our schedule every day. Events will be “live”, and not recorded for viewing at a later time. 
 
Opportunity ends after April 30th. Attend now! Our membership fees will be increasing on 1 May following this Celebration.

Renew Now

Board Meeting Minutes

Central Coast Chapter CLCA Board Meeting on April 6th, 2022

Present: Phil Dundas, Elise Huffman, Regan Berry, Terri Baker, Cathy Quinn, Chris Wilson, Gregory Miller, Ki Bowman, David Ventura

Call to Order
• Phil called the meeting to order at 12:05 PM. Meeting was at Seascape GC.
• No minutes to approve. March’s minutes will be approved via email.
• We did introductions as we had several new people at the event that were interested in joining the board.

Newsletter and Website Updates
• Ki reported the website and the calendar is up to date.

Board Updates
• A motion was made to elect Gregory Miller as Event Director. Motion was seconded and passed.
• A motion was made to elect Terri Baker as the Membership Director. Motion was seconded and passed.
• Chris Wilson will join Terri to form a committee for new membership.
• A motion was made to add Cathy Quinn, our contracted bookkeeper as another account holder to the Comerica bank account.The purpose is so that Cathy can have full access to bank statements, process bill pay transactions under $1,000 with email approval by a board member account holder and resolve any bank issues that infrequently come up (such as resolving login issues, accessing older records or any general bank account questions).

Any payments from vendors that are over $1000.00 shall require two account holder board member signatures.

Any payment under $1000.00 shall require only one board member account holder signature (either of the two account holders that are board members, President being the first in order) or email approval to Cathy.

In the event of an email approval by an account holder board member to Cathy for a bill payment (a check processed via online bank bill pay) a copy of the approval email shall be recorded and sent in with the monthly paperwork sent to CLCA State accounting department.

Motion was made, was seconded and passed

• Our suppliers night and golf event raised $475 during a drawing. A motion was made to donate the money to LEAF. The motion was seconded and passed.

Events Schedule

The Golf and Suppliers
• Everyone gave a brief input one the event. It was determined the event went well. There will be further discussion one whether to do the event there again. There really wasn’t enough room for suppliers. The tables they supplied for the suppliers were too small. The layout where we dined and had the raffle was not conducive for the event. The food was good though.

• We brought in $2800 from suppliers and $8366 from the golf event.

Summer Gala
• Gregory will work on finding a location for the event.
• Dave to check with Mansmith’s about catering the event. Tri-tip, beans and garlic bread.
• We still need to come up the a solid date for this event. We are considering Thursday, Aug 25th or Friday, Aug 26th.

Membership
• We currently have 12 Oak, 5 Maple, and 3 Redwood Partners.
• We received $4000.00 from the state for a public outreach program. Ki, Elise and Regan and Chris are working on what type of adversitizing we can get with it.

Education
Nothing to report.

Meeting adjourned at 1:45 pm.