Associations

We are a proud Green Industry Supplier Member of the Professional Landcare Network www.plcaa.org.

The Professional Landcare Network (PLANET) is an international association serving lawn care professionals, landscape management, design/build/installation professionals, and interior plantscapers. PLANET provides its members with a good business foundation to help them evaluate, plan, and better manage their companies. Member firms have direct access to marketing tools, industry-specific business publications, updates on legislative issues, and networking opportunities that can assist them in becoming more profitable.

PLANET also has a strong certification program. Becoming "Landscape Industry Certified" through PLANET provides a sense of accomplishment, increased respect and recognition from industry peers, and perhaps most important, a way to demonstrate your skills and knowledge to your customers. Now with more than 7,000 certifications awarded and hundreds of testing sites across the nation, the program is increasing in prestige, popularity, and accessibility every year.

PLANET offers several certification programs, including:

• Landscape Industry Certified Manager
• Landscape Industry Certified Technician — Interior or Exterior
• Landscape Industry Certified Horticultural Technician
• Landscape Industry Certified Lawn Care Manager
• Landscape Industry Certified Lawn Care Technician

PLANET emerged on January 1, 2005, when the Associated Landscape Contractors of America (ALCA) and the Professional Lawn Care Association of America (PLCAA) joined forces to become a more encompassing network of green industry professionals. PLCAA, organized in 1979, was a global trade association for residential and commercial lawn care professionals. ALCA, founded in 1961, was the global trade association for landscape maintenance, installation, and design/build contractors; and interior plantscapers.

PLANET is the association of members who create and maintain the QUALITY OF LIFE in communities across America. With nearly 3,500 member companies and affiliates, these firms and their employees represent more than 100,000 green industry professionals. Some of these professionals have taken the extra step of becoming certified through PLANET and bear the distinction of being known as Landscape Industry Certified.

The National Hispanic Landscape Alliance is the result of an awakening among Hispanic-American landscape industry professionals to the importance and benefits of collective effort in protecting and advancing our interests.

In the words of our president Chuy Medrano, “It was time. We had built a foundation for success through hard work and learning the business basics, but to take the next step we had to take a wider view, we had to look beyond what we were doing. We also had to look closer at ourselves. As we did that, we could better see opportunities and threats, and our strengths and weaknesses came into better focus too. As some of us started sharing more, we realized that we could help each other. It started there. Over the last few years there had been some efforts here and there, but there wasn’t anything keeping it going until we formed the NHLA."

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We are a proud partner of the Professional Grounds Management Society www.pgms.org/.

The Professional Grounds Management Society (PGMS) is an individual membership society of grounds professionals advancing the grounds management profession through education and professional development. PGMS was officially created in 1911 but the nucleus of the organization began as the National Association of Gardeners in suburban New York and New Jersey in 1905.

In 1911 all institutional grounds managers were invited to join the organization. Since then, broadening of the Society has continued under two influences:

• The unique core of the Society would be the institutional grounds professional generalist.
• The organization would remain a professional society for the individual (rather than a trade association).

The majority of PGMS members are institutional grounds managers who work for organizations such as colleges and universities, municipalities, park and recreation facilities, office parks, apartment complexes, hotels/motels, cemeteries, theme parks, etc. In addition, many independent landscape contractors are also in membership. All have joined together for the purpose of education and economic advancement.

The society defines a grounds manager as a member of a management team responsible for the operation and maintenance of a site or sites. The grounds manager is responsible for the management of staff, money, materials and equipment utilized in maintaining and enhancing a landscaped site including turf, trees, woody ornamentals and flowers, outdoor structure and related facilities. This can include areas such as roads, sidewalks, parking lots maintenance and repair (including snow removal).

The ultimate goals are to assist the individual manager in developing techniques and management skills to assure an outstanding grounds management program for his or her organization, clients or employers and upgrade the level of the profession.

The BuyBoard National Purchasing Cooperative provides school districts with an opportunity to save time and money while purchasing the products you use every day. Through collaboration between the National School Boards Association (NSBA) and several State School Boards Associations, school districts (and other governmental entities-eligible governmental entities include: Cities, Municipalities, Towns, Villages, Counties, Community Colleges, Public Universities, and Other Local Government Agencies) can benefit from BuyBoard which was developed to comply with state laws which require government entities to make purchases from an approved list of vendors who have gone through a competitive bidding process.

The BuyBoard competitive bidding process gives districts the advantage of leveraging the cooperative’s ability to get volume discounts and combines it with the ease of online, web-based shopping and ordering. Districts that qualify can use BuyBoard to purchase everything from pencils to relocatable classrooms, and everything in between.

We are a supporter of The Property and Environment Research Center - the nation’s oldest and largest institute dedicated to improving environmental quality through property rights and markets. www.perc.org/.

The mission of the Propane Education & Research Council (PERC) is to promote the safe and efficient use of odorized propane gas. It accomplishes this through wide-ranging programs that support safety, training, and the development and commercialization of promising propane technologies.

PERC was authorized by the U.S. Congress with passage of the Propane Education and Research Act (PERA), Public Law 104-284, signed into law on October 11, 1996. In a referendum soon afterward, propane producers and marketers overwhelmingly approved its formation.

The Council is a 21-member board appointed by the National Propane Gas Association and the Gas Processors Association, both of which appoint nine Council members and cooperate in the appointment of three public members.

PERC is authorized to carry out programs, projects, and activities in three key areas:

Safety

Nothing is more important to PERC than the safety of everyone who works with, sells, buys, or depends on propane. Through communications and outreach to consumer safety organizations, trade groups, emergency responders, and the public, PERC increases awareness of safe practices in the handling and use of propane and propane-fueled appliances.
 

Training

Because a well-trained propane workforce is essential to protecting the health and well-being of propane consumers and the general public, PERC leads the development and updating of the propane industry’s most relied upon employee training and certification programs and courseware.
 

Research and Development

By supporting research, development, and demonstration of innovative propane-fueled products and applications, PERC promotes the commercialization of technologies that expand the utility, efficiency, environmental performance, and safety of propane for users in residential, commercial, engine fuel, and agricultural markets.

PERC’s operations and activities are funded by an assessment levied on each gallon of propane gas at the point it is odorized or imported into the United States. The assessment, authorized under PERA, is now four-tenths of a cent per gallon.

Ferris mowers are the official mowers of Richard Childress Racing - www.rcrracing.com.