When Level Green Landscaping account manager Carlos Suarez-Aguilar is out in the field working on commercial properties, he’s not just looking for weeds and lawn diseases —he’s looking out for the earth.
Are there places where environmentally friendly native plants should be hard at work filtering stormwater? Are customers’ retention and detention ponds working properly?
It’s not just part of the job for him. He considers himself a steward of the land.
Not all landscaping company crews know the best environmentally friendly practices, Suarez-Aguilar says.
“It’s important to work with somebody knowledgeable and certified,” he says, “who knows exactly what needs to be done.”
Somebody like him.
Suarez-Aguilar is one of several team members at Level Green Landscaping who have earned the Chesapeake Bay Landscape Professional certification, which allows practitioners to verify functionality and effectiveness of stormwater facilities as well as focused training on maintaining the attributes for their optimal function.
The landscaping certification is administered by the Chesapeake Conservation Landscaping Council, a non-profit dedicated to conservation landscaping to protect the Chesapeake Bay.
“A lot of landscaping practices are detrimental to the environment,” says Beth Ginter, Executive Director of the Chesapeake Conservation Landscaping Council. “A lot of landscaping companies aren’t very green. It seems strange, I know. But we’ve met landscapers who didn’t understand the implications of their own actions every day on the environment.”
The landscaping certification is educating them, one person at a time. Since the certification program started in 2016, it has certified more than 1,500 professionals in Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, Delaware and the District of Columbia.
Most are landscaping professionals, but governments, non-profits and state agencies also send staff for the training.
“There are way more landscapers who don’t have this certification than who have it,” Ginter says, which makes it a valuable addition to a landscaping company’s offerings.
It’s increasingly in demand, says Ginter, who owned her own landscaping company before taking this role.
“More and more HOAs and local governments are asking about the certification and in some cases requiring it of the landscaping companies they hire,” Ginter says. “Lots of entities are looking for qualified landscape professionals to do this work.”
Communities often get grants to install rain gardens, bioswales or other practices to help slow water drainage to the Chesapeake Bay and filter pollutants, Ginter says, but then they aren’t maintained correctly, which means they’re not working.
“When these practices fail, that impacts local streams and rivers and the Bay as well as the fish, shellfish and aquatic plants that live there,” she says. “We need good water quality for the critters, but also for the humans who depend on fish, and depend on the Bay for enjoyment.”
The training includes both classroom instruction and field training. Participants visit retention and detention ponds and rain gardens, all designed to filter pollution from urban and suburban stormwater.
Back at Level Green, Suarez-Aguilar tells how maintaining these sites is an important part of the landscape maintenance they do for commercial landscaping customers.
“The most valuable thing I learned was how to conduct site audits on properties, learning what to look for to make sure everything is working right, and the property complies with the laws,” he says.
Municipalities want to make sure that retention and detention ponds don’t fail, so they conduct regular inspections of these ponds. Property owners face fines if the ponds aren’t working properly.
“Are there signs of erosion around the banks?” Suarez-Aguilar says. “Are pipes clogged? Is there sediment buildup that needs to be cleared? Is there enough plant material? That’s one of the most important things. Plants help filter the water so pollutants don’t end up in the Bay.
“When it’s time for your inspection you want to know you’ve been in safe hands with someone who knows what they’re doing,” he says.
When Suarez-Aguilar talked earlier of seeing mistakes and bad landscaping practices out on commercial properties, he was right, Ginter says.
“Many, many mistakes are being made,” she says. “Our communities are investing a lot of money in these practices and a lot of these practices are failing.
“People don’t know how to properly build these biodetention areas or rain gardens or how to properly maintain them. They need to work with professionals who are certified and know what they’re doing.
“Certified professionals can help correct the mistakes out there and construct quality practices in the first place,” she says.
Protecting the Chesapeake Bay and other waterways is personal for Suarez-Aguilar.
“There’s a stream right behind my house,” he says. “I take my kids hiking and they like to jump in the river. We do our part to keep the water clean for future generations.”
He converted most of his yard from lawn to gardens and redirected his downspouts to deliver rainwater to his gardens.
He loves that his kids learned in school early on about protecting the Chesapeake Bay, and he volunteers on their environmental field trips that continue to teach about water conservation.
Every landscape professional like Suarez-Aguilar who earns her organization’s certification is a victory, Ginter says.
“It’s awesome — we love it,” she says. “You’re investing in your employees. Landscaping professionals are under-appreciated and undervalued. They impact so much. They have the opportunity to affect great change.”
Sending team members for the Chesapeake Bay Landscape Professional certification is just part of our commitment to a healthy environment.
Here at Level Green Landscaping, we’ve long been advocates for the environment, from our careful use of fertilizer to our move to electric-powered landscaping equipment to recycling all of our green waste.
We know our customers appreciate our earth-friendly stance as we balance it with their desire for excellent landscaping.
Our expertise in constructing and maintaining conservation landscaping practices can help you ensure your property is doing its part to protect the surrounding waterways.
If you’re not already a Level Green Landscaping client, we’d love to add you to our growing list of happy customers.
Our focus is on commercial properties like offices, mixed-use sites, HOAs, municipalities and institutions in Maryland, Washington DC and parts of Virginia.
Contact us at 202-544-0968. You can also request a free consultation online to meet with us one-on-one.
We’d love to hear from you.