PGMS Site Visit to Focus on Best Practices, Dynamic Site Tours

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BALTIMORE (June 2012) – Learning from other professionals in your field and seeing what they are doing successfully is one of the best ways to gain the knowledge needed to enhance your grounds program. That’s why the Professional Grounds Management Society (PGMS) will focus its 2012 Summer Regional Grounds Management Seminar & Site Visit on best practices, taught through educational programs led by professionals in the green industry, and through dynamic site tours. This event is set to take place Aug. 13- 14, 2012, in Portland, Ore.
 
Several education programs will be offered during this two-day event. The first program will be "Irrigation Practices and IPM Practice led by Gordon Kunkle and John Reed, and will provide key components to a successful water conservation program along with identifying problematic challenges. Following, guest speaker Kris Codron of Lewis and Clark College will discuss how to utilize performance evaluations to re-engineer your team, identify and reward star performers, set SMART goals, and provide effective feedback.

Bob Kief and Joe Kovolyan of the University of Puget Sound will present the third education program focused on using a Landscape Framework Master Plan in stewarding a maturing campus and guiding the conservation and development of the campus. Lastly, Dr. Linda Chalker-Scott of Washington State University Puyallup Research and Extension Center will present “Horticultural Myths: the Horticultural CSI: Why Did My Landscape Plants Die?”

Four distinguished places will serve as the locations of the site tours. Attendees will get exclusive insider tours of the grounds management programs at Hoyt Arboretum, the Portland Japanese Gardens, The International Rose Testing Gardens at Washington Park and Nike Headquarters. These tours will provide attendees the hard-to-find opportunity to gain knowledge, ask questions, and see how other professionals in the field are dealing with and managing specific grounds issues. Attendees will also be able to attend the
International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) Trade Show for free.

“There are so many different aspects of working in the green industry and because of that we wanted to give attendees the opportunity to learn as much as they can by seeing what is working for others so they can take knowledge and new techniques with them to incorporate into their grounds program. And I think this event truly allows for that. The amount the attendee can learn is immeasurable,” explained Gerald Landby, director of grounds at Carroll College in Helena, Mont., and coordinator of the event.

For more information on the 2012 Summer Seminar and Site Visit, visit
www.pgms.org/2012RegionalOregon.htm