Project EverGreen has Big Plans for 2005

Project EverGreen’s executive committee meeting earlier this month in Cleveland, Ohio, yielded a wide range of goals for the organization in the coming year. In fact, Executive Director Den Gardner says the list of objectives was so long, the group had to whittle it down to six major events to execute in 2005 and 2006. “There aren’t enough hours in the day for this group to talk about everything we want to accomplish,” Gardner told Lawn & Landscape. “These are among the most creative, outspoken, enthusiastic people in the industry and our meetings are always informative and educational.”

Recently, Project EverGreen has focused its mission to raise consumer awareness of the benefits of green spaces and their proper, healthy maintenance. Gardner says the Cleveland meeting gave the group an opportunity to nail down the key issues it will approach over this year and next.

“One issue at the top of our list is that we’re going to be doing a pilot project with Habitat for Humanity in Minneapolis/St. Paul,” Gardner says. “The Twin Cities has the fifth largest Habitat for Humanity chapter in the United States, and we’ll be working with them to provide landscaping, lawn care and irrigation services for approximately five Habitat homes.” Gardner says Project EverGreen will identify local contractors that are members of supportive organizations to provide everything from sod to plant material, fertilizer, etc. For example with Turf Producers International (TPI) as a Project EverGreen member, a local member of TPI would be able to provide sod for the Habitat project, Gardner explains. The same holds true for contractor members of the Professional Landcare Network (PLANET) and the Irrigation Association, which also are Project Evergreen member organizations. Contractors involved in these groups would be viable candidates for providing everything from landscape installation to irrigation parts and pieces.

Gardner says plans are underway to make the Habitat for Humanity project a reality, while details of other Project EverGreen goals are still being outlined. For example, Gardner says Project EverGreen plans to form a partnership with America In Bloom for its coming 2006 program, which starts this fall. “We’re still nailing down how to be involved with the America in Bloom program, which recognizes cities for their accomplishments in promoting green spaces,” he says. “We’ll definitely play an active role in the organization.”

Also along the line of recognition and awards, Gardner says a third Project EverGreen goal is to annually acknowledge a U.S. group that strongly exhibits the benefits of landscaping and green spaces. “This takes off from our tag line ‘Because Green Matters,’” Gardner says. “The universe for this type of recognition is fairly wide and could include universities, local nonprofit landscape organizations, municipalities, etc. We already have a group selected for this year and we’ll be making an announcement at a future date to bring this group’s work to light.”

In another community-involvement program, Project EverGreen also plans to get involved in a pilot project in North Carolina to renovate sports fields. “We’ll be utilizing the talents of local Project EverGreen contributors in North Carolina to help youth soccer programs by renovating some of their sports fields,” Gardner says. “We’ve begun having phone conversations and meetings with the organization we’ll be working with and are getting ready to move this project along.”

Internally, Gardner says Project EverGreen is making progress with its new advertising campaign, “Who’s Telling Your Story?” which will be brought to the consumer in the near future. Likewise, the group will be focusing on other marketing tactics, such as submitting articles for consumer weekly and daily newspapers’ home and garden sections this spring. By sharing information with consumers regarding best management practices for their lawns and landscapes, Gardner says this approach is expected to remind homeowners of the benefits of green spaces, while simultaneously promoting the industry and suggesting that homeowners look to lawn and landscape professionals for high-end, quality results in their yards.

Additionally, Project EverGreen is exploring the creation of an outside board of governors for the organization. “This group would be made up of those people outside the green industry, but who have an interest in green spaces,” Gardner says. “Everyone from wealthy entrepreneurs to individuals involved in real estate or banking have a role in green spaces and landscapes and are affected by how and where those spaces exist. We expect it to be a12- to 18-month process to put such a group in place, but we’ve already begun to explore who would be best to include on this type of advisory board. These people would be our eyes and ears from a consumer standpoint.”

With such an array of goals for the coming year and beyond, Gardner says Project EverGreen is pleased to get going in a positive direction. Recently, he notes that the grassroots group has had to spend time and talent dealing with anti-pesticide activist groups, which took resources away from the organization’s positive goals.

“Our goal has been to promote the benefits of green spaces from the start, and our ‘The Gloves Are Off,’ campaign was an aggressive way to do that,” he says. “Unfortunately, some activists have spent time trying to put us in a box as a pesticide lobbying organization, which couldn’t be farther from the truth. We got sidetracked a bit by having to answer to those groups, but we’re back on track now.”

In contrast to a Scripps Howard news story from earlier this year, which ultimately challenged Project EverGreen’s position on pesticide use in the face of activist arguments against chemical lawn care, Gardner reports that TIME magazine is developing an article on the lawn care topic, as well – hopefully for the better.

“You have to be a voice of reason for consumers about landscaping – what’s helpful and what’s harmful – and put things in perspective for them,” Gardner says. “When all is said and done, we really see more positives than negatives that came from the Scripps Howard story because it gave us exposure among consumers – it put us on the map. Though we spent some time over the last months talking to other media and potential contributors about misinformation that’s been put out about is, I think overall, the news coverage brought more attention and is giving us more opportunities.

In addition to bringing its message to the consumer, Gardner says Project EverGreen is actively encouraging individuals within the industry to contribute to the organization and its goals. “We can’t survive without contributions from end users and we’ve said from the beginning that this has to be a grassroots effort,” he says. “End-user contractors can’t always rely on suppliers to come to the table with dollars – this is all about the future of every landscape contractor and lawn care operator in the country. With their support, we can have a viable, vibrant organization."

Find out how your company can benefit from becoming involved with Project EverGreen by visiting the organization's Web site at www.projectevergreen.com.