Landscape Contractor / Design Build Maintain

APR 2014

LC/DBM provides landscape contractors with Educational, Imaginative and Practical information about their business, their employees, their machines and their projects.

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Universities across the country are preparing interested groups of students for a variety of roles within the landscape industry. The experience these students are gaining in the classroom and in the field is extensive, and will prepare them to contribute to landscape companies large and small as soon as they start their careers. Thirty-eight years ago, Robert Callaway start- ed an event for students of horticulture programs called the ALCA Field Days. Today, the competi- tion continues and is hosted annually by PLAN- ET (formerly ALCA) at a different college or university each year. According to their website, "In 2013, 65 colleges were in attendance, with 853 students competing in 28 green industry related events." Michael Davidsohn, a professor at the land- scape construction program at the University of Massachusetts' Stockbridge School, is an annual participant in PLANET events with his students. Every spring semester, the senior landscape con- tractor class designs and builds a project on cam- pus with cooperation from the University Physi- cal Plant and other professionals at UMASS. The students work through the site selection and design phases, a process that can last for several months. Installation typically requires 6-7 weeks, and must be completed in time for graduation ceremonies in May. Both the school and the students benefit from such projects. "Not only do these opportuni- ties further the University mission of providing a solid education for students, they also create beautiful, environmentally conscious places on Above: University of Massachusetts (UMASS) staff handled the heavy equipment while the students worked with experienced operators, using transits and other tools to coordinate base depths, finished grades and other aspects of the project. Once the finished base elevation was installed, the students coordinated layout and installation of the pavers. Top: The renovation of a visitor's courtyard at UMASS provided an opportunity for landscape construction students to get some hands-on hardscape installation experience. The students worked with school staff and an installation crew to replace old, impermeable surfacing with 2,100 square feet of permeable interlocking concrete pavers. (Continued on page 10) Hardscapes PAVERS•MASONRY•BLOCKS•ROCKS 8 LC DBM By Doug Scott, Pavestone, LLC Preparing the of Landscape Professionals Next Generation 008-010,013.indd 8 3/26/14 2:37 PM

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