Impact Conference Preview
by Meta Levin
This year’s Impact
Conference is designed to have something for everybody. “We’re targeting as broad an audience as possible,” says Impact Conference chair Brandon Losey. The event, titled, “Resilient Landscapes: Redefining the Design/Build/Maintain Paradigm,” is scheduled for October 22, 2019 at the Chicago Botanic Garden. “It’s a high-profile destination, which draws people to come experience that space,” says Losey. “Anyone interested in the industry would find it appealing.” While organizers want to look at the entire spectrum, the program will, says Losey, “hit hard on maintenance. We see a lot of projects for which no one thought about what happens after it is in the ground. We’re bringing a level of practicality – more nuts and bolts.”
10
Keynote Speaker, Claudia West of Phyto Studio LLC, will talk with attendees about “Planting in a Post Wild World,” a subject taken from the title of the book she cowrote with last year’s Impact Conference keynote speaker, Thomas Rainer. “She will concentrate more on the science behind sustainable landscapes,” says Losey. Her presentation will dig into design principles using wild plant communities, as well as introduce attendees to forms of design that work with natural philosophies, marrying horticulture with ecology. (continued on page 12)
The Landscape Contractor October 2019
