04 ATTACHMENT 05 - Laserfiche WebLink

r STEP 2: Plan to offer more Bay-Friendly landscaping aractices The ideal Bay-Friendly landscape is designed, constructed and maintained with most, if not all, the practices listed in this guide. It is a holistic, integrated approach that yields the most benefits to your clients, your business, the environment and our community. It is more likely, though, that you will need to evolve towards that goal rather than instantly switch over. Sit down with your staff and ask yourselves: ^ Do we currently offer more practices from one principle than others? Why? ^ What other Bay-Friendly practices from the Menu of Best Practices (pages 10- I I) might our clients also value? ^ What additional practices would be relatively easy to learn about and implement in the near future? Consider how to adopt more of the practices over time: ^ Under the principle(s) at which your company is already strong, (such as Conserve Water) what would it take to offer all or most of the practices? ^ What additional practices can you offer in the next fscal year, or the next 2 years? ^ What training do you need to offer more Bay-Friendly services? ^ Design professionals: ask that the landscapes you design be maintained in accordance with the Bay-Friendly Landscape Guidelines by frms with Bay Friendly Qualified Landscape Maintenance Professionals on staff. You can find these qualified professionals at wwwBayFriend~.org(_qualified Survey Says... Almost 50% of single-family households that employ a ~ professional landscaper 4 would pay more for a I- service that uses i. environmentally-friendly ~~ practices. `An ecologically-bused planting design is inherently complex. The mainten- ance needs to change over time. A trained maintenance presence rs needed. " - Michael'Lhilgen, Landscape Architect and Contractor, Pour Dimensions Landscape Company, Oakland ~. ~ a ~, . ~ ~ _ ~ L .~ ..f ." F ' :~ 4: ~.-- . y Ll~ . ~ ~ ~. . ,.. gar -~ •~ ~ ~~ ~, -."~M• ~„ \ i ~J f~ f Guide your Clients through a Transition Period Transitioning a landscape that has been managed with few chemical inputs and some additions of organic amendments to allay-Friendly landscaping maintenance program can be a relatively simple and short process. Landscapes that have been intensively treated with pesticides, over-watered and over- fertilized will require greater skill and time to transition. ^ Let your customers know that it may take 2 years or more to make the change, that it will require skill, frequent monitoring and increased communication, and that their expenses could be greater during that period. ^ Agree upon an acceptable period and include this in your contrail. ^ Start by assessing the soil and testing drainage. Z a r i a 62