2017 ASHS Annual Conference

Executive Order 13508 declared the Chesapeake Bay, the nation’s largest estuary and a watershed covering more than 64,000 square miles, a “national treasure” and requires the federal government to intensify restoration and protection efforts. Proper management and application of fertilizers to urban and suburban turf grass represent a significant and measurable area to reduce nutrient loads into the Bay watershed, aiding in improving water quality. Beginning as early as 1990, multiple Extension Master Gardener units across Virginia have been providing urban nutrient management plans and programming to local residents. Urban nutrient management plans prescribe best practices to manage the amount and timing of fertilization programs, minimizing nutrient loss while maximizing turf and landscape plant quality. However, while Extension Units were offering similar services, both protocol and reporting varied widely. Over the course of 12 months beginning in 2014, we conducted facilitated meetings and online collaborations, developing a statewide initiative, Healthy Virginia Lawns (HVL). The Healthy Virginia Lawns program is designed to provide science based, site-specific lawn and landscape fertilization recommendations and other best management practices to homeowners. We produced standard procedures, turn-key marketing materials such as promotional videos and program templates, and began aggregating and reporting statewide data of residential turf acreage under certified urban nutrient management plans. We will discuss a few of the key best practices recommended through HVL. More specifically, we will discuss the processes of securing agent buy-in and bringing existing programs under a centralized statewide initiative which now also allows for new units to adopt similar programming locally, concluding with how we effectively aggregate data reporting for Chesapeake Bay purposes and collective impacts. Through the HVL initiative we are better poised to leverage additional resources and increase Extension brand recognition. We will point out the successful and not-so-successful steps that proved to be valuable lessons learned. After our first year, in 2016, there were 10 HVL programs reporting impacts. At least 168 Extension Master Gardener (EMG) volunteers reported more than 3,500 volunteer hours while working with at least 1,146 clients. These EMG volunteers helped to write nearly 950 certified urban nutrient management plans, bringing nearly 300 acres of residential lawns under nutrient plans counting toward the Chesapeake Bay Model with respect to nutrient reductions.