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Cover Story
Protecting the Industry and the Environment: VTC Forges a New Path to Legislative Success
By Tom Tracy, Ph.D., VTC Executive Director
The entire turfgrass and landscape industry is tremendous. It contributes to Virginia’s economy; it improves our quality of life, it protects the environment, and it provides livelihood for hundreds of thousands of hard-working professionals. The industry includes persons responsible for golf courses, sports fields, sod farms and lawns and landscapes. They are a diverse lot united by a love for Virginia’s natural beauty. That love, and its associated desire to protect and enhance the environment, is often not recognized by elected officials, regulatory agencies, and environmental groups. Instead of understanding the economic and environmental importance of the industry, well-meaning decision makers seek to enact laws and regulations based on false assumptions.
About 15 years ago, the false belief that lawn and landscape professionals needlessly and purposely inundate every green blade of grass with tons of fertilizer, especially the Chesapeake Bay, degrading nitrogen and phosphorus elements, led a Virginia State Senator to introduce legislation that would mandate a separate soil test on each property each and every time fertilizer was applied to lawns. Let me repeat: each and every time. I told the Senator that if his bill became law, I was going to quit my job and form a “Q & L C.T.”, standing for Quick and Legal Cheap Testing lab. My hypothetical company’s only function would be to meet the soil testing requirements of the bill. I would be a millionaire within a year.
Fortunately, other members of the General Assembly understood the implications of his bill. They knew that annually requiring five or more soil tests on each property was not only impractical but also that it violated university recommendations of a test about once every three years. These better educated legislators also understood the value of the lawn and landscape industry. Their voices prevailed.
The soil test bill died, and so did my hope of earning a quick million. Later, we worked with legislators, the Virginia Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and Virginia’s Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services to transform the well-intentioned but misguided soil test legislation. The new legislation established the Certified Fertilizer Applicator certification program – a regulation that recognizes the expertise and professionalism of persons who apply fertilizers on lawns.
Professionals in the lawn and landscape industry are frequently singled out by decision makers as the one segment of the turfgrass and landscape industry needing intense scrutiny and regulation. Targeting that industry is extremely short-sighted. Lawn and landscape are the professionals ideally positioned to protect the environment and to provide quality of life for end users being on the front-line of environmental protection. They are the ones daily keeping pesticides and fertilizers out of the Chesapeake Bay and other waters; they are the ones who work with the state agencies to establish regulations on the selection and use of those products; they are the ones who have an economic interest in ensuring that excess products are not applied.
Most members of Virginia’s General Assembly now recognize the value, both economically and environmentally, of the lawn and landscape industry. Sadly, misled politicians in other states take an opposite position, viewing these professionals as environmental enemies that must be restricted instead of as powerful allies striving for a common goal.
One does not need look further than Baltimore for an example of anti-industry legislative bias. In 2016, Montgomery County, the jurisdiction that includes Baltimore, enacted a ban on most uses of lawn pesticides, identifying them as being used for “cosmetic” purposes. That regulation has been upheld in multiple court cases and is comparable to similar bans in other states and in Canada. Selective bans, such as the one in Maryland, target the very industry that is ideally suited to protect and enhance the environment. Fortunately, Virginia has so far been spared similar restrictive and misguided legislation.
Opposing anti-industry laws and regulations takes one of two approaches: (1) digging in the heels and fighting whenever possible and (2) intensely educating, both by word and by deeds, persons in the General Assembly and at the regulatory agencies. “Resist” is the proper word for the first approach. “Collaboration” is the term for the second.
Resist can be very effective for stopping specific pieces of legislation. We use this strategy sparingly because industries who are always perceived as “in opposition” to legislation often face negative consequences, even when said legislation is introduced by well-meaning but misinformed politicians. Industry professionals become labeled as enemies who oppose every action that seeks to protect the environment. Resist when necessary, but there is a better approach.
We are learning from experience and from the broader culture that our approach must be intentional, measured, and targeted to specific pieces of legislation. Use RESIST when we must but ALWAYS use the second strategy: COLLABORATION.
The second strategy, one of education, building bridges, and developing strategic partnerships is hard – it takes more time and uses far more resources than simply always saying no whenever undesirable legislation appears. The results are worth expending those resources, because when done properly and consistently, taking the collaborative approach secures powerful allies among legislators and environmental groups. Wes Bray, Virginia Turfgrass Council President, said it was not too long ago that legislators and environmental group leaders used to “loathe our industry. Now they view us as valuable partners.”
We have three main on-going collaboration initiatives: conducting Service Projects, partnering with environmental groups, and distributing turf and flowering wildflower seeds. Service Projects are highly visible “boots on the ground” events. They are practical, they involve work, and they demonstrate our commitment to environmental protection. We have conducted these projects in various parts of the state and in various environmentally sensitive areas. From Manassas to Virginia Beach and from planting shade trees at a public library to minimizing erosion at the oceanfront, these highly visible projects gained were noticed by persons and organizations previously unaware of the scope of the industry.
Developing partnerships with non-turfgrass persons and entities is always an integral part of each Service Project. We worked with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation to restore a bioswale and establish erosion controlling beach grass; the City of Virginia Beach Public Schools and the Virginia Aquarium joined us in enhancing outdoor displays and minimizing tidal erosion; the City of Petersburg assisted us on a project that prevented silt from entering the James River; and Prince William County officials were instrumental in a project that installed shade trees and a bog garden at Manassas Central Library.
Our work with environmental groups has been very rewarding, turning potentially adversarial associations into powerful allies for the environment. Relationships with these groups became very positive when their leaders participated in our Service Projects, when they spoke at our events, and when they realized a very important fact: The lawn and landscape industry seeks a “both/and” approach, not an “either/or” one. Recognizing the former approach, one environmental group leader became a very avid supporter of us when she realized industry professionals recognize the value of using the best plants for the site and for the intended use. Previously, she thought we always pushed for establishing extensive lawns on every inch of every property. Another environmental group leader, an educator with The Elizabeth River Project (ERP), a powerful and effective group headquartered in Norfolk, Virginia, told me she publicly corrected a speaker from another group who publicly disparaged the entire lawn and landscape industry. Such support is invaluable and was the result of years of developing relationships with her and with the ERP. We exhibited at their events. We invited them to speak at our pesticide and fertilizer programs. We listened to each other.
“I wondered when you folks were coming,” is frequently heard during our annual seed distribution at Virginia’s General Assembly. Three-pound bags of quality fescue grass and packs of flowering wildflower seeds are enthusiastically accepted – even those senators and delegates with reservations about the lawn and landscape industry eagerly accept our gift of lawns and flowers. Along with seeds, each office in the General Assembly building gets literature about our industry’s value.
Turfgrass industry professionals are also taking note of the VTC and VTC-EI’s successes in the legislative arena. Julie Holt, Content Director for TheTurfZone.com, says, “VTC’s approach to legislative advocacy and partnership is unique in the industry association space. In my work with turfgrass and nursery and landscape organizations in the eastern U.S., VTC’s focus on service projects and building goodwill with legislators and environmental groups stands alone, especially in the lawn and landscape segment. It is encouraging to see individuals who may have negative perceptions of managed turfgrass begin to understand that lawn and landscape professionals are actually quite diligent in their care for and protection of the environment.”
Much of our positive outreach is through the Virginia Turfgrass Council Environmental Institute (VTC-EI), a 501 (c)3 corporation. The Environmental Institute has two main goals: (1) educate decision makers, primarily politicians and regulators, about the value of our industry and (2) partner with environmental groups. Working towards those goals enables us to effectively advocate for the lawn and landscape industry. Non-industry persons now recognize we are on the front line of environmental protection. The accomplishments listed above detail fulfillment of those goals. But to really appreciate our work it is necessary to examine the relationships and our next steps.
I frequently say to our non-green industry partners that we disagree about many issues, but we are on the same page when it comes to protecting the environment. Political labels retreat to irrelevance when we advocate for or against legislation that adversely affects the industry’s ability to accomplish that goal of protection. We now have dear friends and supporters in the General Assembly who are both politically liberal and conservative. We also have dear friends and supporters at various universities – for instance, Dr. Cindy Smith, Professor of Environmental Science & Policy at George Mason University, is on our Board of Advisors. She is also the person who facilitated the Prince William County Service Project. She also helped present our first ever Environmental Institute Outstanding Legislator award to Senator Russet Perry. In addition to George Mason University’s Dr. Smith, we are developing relationships with Virginia State University. Soon, we will be able to publicly discuss the great partnerships we will have with that institution.
What does the future hold? Of course, we will continue working with our great friends at Virginia Tech, but we are increasing the depth of our university resources to include other universities. We will continue developing partnerships with environmental groups. Doing so is not only right but is also very strategic. These groups are, rightly so, highly respected both in the General Assembly and in cities and counties. Their proclamation of the excellencies of the lawn and landscape industry is priceless.
The immediate future includes working with Henrico County Public Schools and the City of Richmond. The schools contacted us to help them establish pollinator meadows in areas unsuitable for turfgrass. How many schools are they talking about? 135.
In closing, please heed my admonition for industry professionals to continue doing the right thing. Proper use of pesticides and fertilizers protects the applicator, others, and the environment. That usage also protects us from adverse legislation. Four years ago, House Bill 2030 sought to prevent our industry from using an entire class of pesticides. The bill’s patron had good intentions, but those intentions were based on false information: he believed landscaper’s use of those pesticides destroyed bee hives in his district. Detailed research by the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services exonerated the industry because those bee hives were destroyed by homeowners who misused pesticides. I shudder to think what would have happened if the research discovered the industry was to blame.
