Join us for the 2024 LCA Sustainability Symposium! This dynamic event features a comprehensive agenda focused on sustainable landscaping practices, including a Battery-Operated Classroom Component, by Dan Mabe of the American Green Zone Alliance (AGZA), and a keynote address by Doug Tallamy, renowned author. Learn about converting gasoline-powered equipment to battery-powered equipment and the significance of oaks in our landscapes.

Registration Fees:

Member (Early Bird) - $199*

Nonmember (Early Bird) - $249*

Member (Regular) - $229

Nonmember (Regular) - $279

* Register by February 1, 2024 to receive the discounted fee

Register Now

Event Location:

Silver Spring Civic Center

1 Veterans Plaza

Silver Spring, Maryland 20910

Program:

Continuing Education:

The following CEUs will be offered for the 2024 Sustainability Symposium:

American Society of Landscape Architects (LA CES 6.0)
Association of Professional Landscape Designers (APLD 5.25)
Chesapeake Bay Landscape Professionals (CBLP 4.5)
DC Master Gardener (5.0)
ISA BCMA Science: 0

Practice: 0

Management: 6.25

Climber Specialist: 6.25

ISA Certified Arborist: 6.25

Utility Specialist: 5

Municipal Specialist: 6.25

Aerial Lift Specialist: 6.25

Maryland Master Gardener (5.75)

Speakers:

Featured Speaker - Dan Mabe

Dan Mabe is the Founder of the American Green Zone Alliance® (AGZA) and comes from the gas-powered landscape maintenance industry. Seeking a safe and responsible transition solution for lower-impact operations of lawn and garden equipment, Dan has devoted over two decades to developing and applying clean battery technology for the grounds maintenance industry. To further the acceptance of cleaner battery-powered technologies, Dan created and implemented the American Green Zone Alliance “Green Zone®” certification program which includes outreach, training, and impact reporting.  AGZA works with States, Counties, Municipalities, Academic Institutions, Landscape Maintenance Companies, Contractors, and Air District Agencies providing sustainable grounds maintenance education and consultation.

Keynote Speaker - Doug Tallamy

Doug Tallamy is the T. A. Baker Professor of Agriculture in the Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Delaware, where he has authored 106 research publications and has taught insect-related courses for 41 years. Chief among his research goals is to better understand the many ways insects interact with plants and how such interactions determine the diversity of animal communities. His book Bringing Nature Home was published by Timber Press in 2007, The Living Landscape, co-authored with Rick Darke, was published in 2014; Nature's Best Hope, a New York Times bestseller, was released in February 2020, and his latest book, The Nature of Oaks, was released in March 2021. His awards include recognition from The Garden Writer’s Association, Audubon, The National Wildlife Federation, Western Carolina University, The Garden Club of America, and The American Horticultural Association. Doug lives with his wife, Cindy, on their restored property in Oxford, PA. 

Featured Speaker - Mary Travaglini

Mary Travaglini is the Organic Lawn and Landscape Manager for Montgomery County, Maryland. With a background as a landscape architect and years of work managing invasive plants and stormwater management facilities, she now assists residents and landscapers with going organic and educating the public about the County’s pesticide law restricting lawn chemicals, the County’s new law banning the use of gas-powered leaf blowers, and assists communities with the installation of pet waste stations.

Featured Speaker - Eric Gilbey

Eric Gilbey, PLA uses his professional experience as a practicing landscape architect and his experience in CAD and BIM in his role as product marketing manager for the landscape industries at Vectorworks, Inc., where he continues to develop an understanding of design and visualization workflows used by land planning and site design professionals. He is a past president of the Association of Professional Landscape Designers and recently served as co-chair of ASLA’s Digital Technology Professional Practice Network. Eric writes and speaks for several green industry associations and helps landscape architects and designers develop best practices, including sustainable site design and site-specific BIM. Eric received an Associate of Applied Science degree in Landscape Contracting and Construction and a Bachelor of Science degree in Landscape Architecture from the Ohio State University.

Featured Speaker - Chuck Whealton

Chuck Whealton is the Director of Landscape Management Systems at Ruppert Landscape. He is responsible for overseeing Ruppert's special projects, key division initiatives, and coordination with corporate departments, working closely with our IT team to ensure seamless rollouts and support of many of their current landscape management systems. Chuck has been with Ruppert for over 21 years and has almost 40 years of industry experience. He is a Certified Pesticide Applicator for ornamentals and turf in Maryland, a Certified Professional Horticulturist. and a Certified Landscape Technician. 

Featured Speaker - Matt Rhoderick

Matt Rhoderick, LEED AP is the Senior Landscape Architect for McHale Landscape. Matt focuses on waterfront properties in Maryland, primarily the Western and Eastern shores. A member of the Watershed Stewards Academy Consortium of Support Professionals since 2011, Matt provides green solutions to design with a particular focus on permitting, lot coverage, grading, drainage, and mitigation. His designs utilize native plant selections with low maintenance options to minimize fertilization and watering requirements. He has a degree in Landscape Architecture from the University of Maryland.

Featured Speaker - Lynette Scaffidi

Lynette Scaffidi is the managing owner of Empire Landscapes. She is an experienced professional with compassion for the natural world and extensive education and experience in reforestation and environmental plantings; invasive species management, Green Infrastructure plantings and maintenance, and environmental habitat restoration including vernal pools, microtopography, and wildlife management. Lynette graduated from the University of Maryland with a Master’s of Science, Animal Science – Wildlife Habitat Management and a Bachelor’s of Science, Natural Resource Management.

Featured Speaker - Ann English

Ann English, PLA, ASLA, LEED® AP, CBLP 1 & D+I has a life-long love of plants and nature and has a focus on how to better the environment through design, and working with the local ecology. Her design work has been in the private, non-profit, and governmental sectors as well as the academic, with a focus on plants, designing with plants and in-situ soils. Her work has had an emphasis on stormwater management and low water input solutions and she has a long history in field testing plants in the environments in which they are planted before recommending solutions to others.  She has degrees in American History/ Architectural History (BA, Penn) Regional Planning (MRP, Penn State), and Landscape Architecture (MLA, UGA) and is the manager of the Montgomery County RainScapes Program of the Department of Environmental Protection. 

Featured Speaker - Lauren Wheeler

Lauren Wheeler is a recognized leader in her field and has been practicing landscape design professionally for over 40 years. She is the founder and principal designer at Natural Resources Design, Inc., an ecological landscape design/build firm that specializes in schools, parks, ecological preservation, and educational stormwater management. Previously she was the  Director of George Washington University’s graduate program in Sustainable Landscapes. She designed both the State of Maryland’s and Washington, D.C.’s municipal natural play parks, the District’s. first net-zero school. She believes in the resilience of communities, employee empowerment, and the environment.

Featured Speaker - Edamarie Mattei

Edamarie Mattei is the owner of Backyard Bounty, a garden company that helps clients build gardens of abundance- reclaiming their yards for themselves and for nature.  An acknowledged expert in native plants, stormwater management, and organic landscape design, Edamarie has created hundreds of gardens in the DC area that promote native species, provide wildlife habitat, and each year prevent over 5 million gallons of stormwater from running into our creeks, rivers, and Bay. Edamarie started gardening when her children were young as a way to introduce them to nature and find a source for organic food.  Before Backyard Bounty, she was an English teacher in Montgomery County, the San Francisco Bay Area, and the South Bronx. A proud native of New Jersey, Edamarie has degrees from Georgetown and Penn. Her hobbies include hiking, cooking, and gardening of course!

Thank You to Our AGZA AFTC Exhibitors!

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Thank You to Our Lunch Sponsors!

Thank You to Our Facility Sponsor!

Thank You to Our Exhibitors!

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