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Plant Management Systems: Urban Horticulture (Bernalillo County)
Plan Goals
To improve public's satisfaction with landscape plant issues by teaching proper plant selection and management, including pest, disease and weed control; soil conditioning and fertilization; and appropriate, efficient irrigation.
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Plant Management Systems: Urban Horticulture
Impact Reports
Agent, at request of Bernalillo County Parks and Recreation Land Management Division, developed a training course to prepare Land Management personnel to take the International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) certification exam. The request was based on County mid-level staff wishing to improve the professionalism of their field crews, with regard to tree care, while also allowing said crew members to obtain independent certification of skills and knowledge, useful to them for professional development in addition to actual field practices. The target audience was ten individuals who are responsible for a wide range of operations, from turf and tree maintenance to irrigation system repair, etc.
The Agent, who has held ISA certification himself for several years, used the ISA's own 16-chapter study guide as a text for the class, and developed PowerPoint presentations for each of the chapters. Classes were held roughly monthly starting in August, 2011, and terminating in January, 2012. Each class lasted about 4 hours, and covered two chapters.
The workers took the test as part of approximately 20 individuals who tested at the 2012 Think Trees Conference, an annual tree care conference occurring in Albuquerque early each year. As an aside, this conference brings in national-caliber speakers, with an typical attendance around 350 people. The Agent has been very involved in the non-profit entity which puts on this conference since the beginning of his time with NMSU. Of the ten Bernalillo County workers who took the exam, only two were successful in passing it. Of the approximately 20 persons who took the exam, only three passed (two of whom were Bernalillo County workers who had taken the prep course being described herein).
The Agent had the class members do an evaluation, after having taken the test. The evaluation asked five questions: 1) Did you learn new information and or skills? 2) Do you thing you will use this new information/skill set in the future? 3) Will this new information/skill set be directly useful to you? 4) Prior to taking the Exam, how useful did you feel the class was? 5) After taking the exam, how useful did the class actually turn out to be?
100% responded "yes" to both question 1 and question 2. For question 3, 20% felt the new information would be "somewhat" useful, 20% felt it would be "quite a bit" useful and 60% felt it would be "very much" useful. For question 4, prior to taking the exam, 20% felt that the class was "somewhat" useful, 60% felt it was "quite a bit" useful, and 20% felt is was "very much" useful. For question 5, after taking the exam, 30% felt the class had been "somewhat" useful, 50% felt it had been "quite a bit" useful, and 20% felt it had been "very much" useful.
It is helpful to know that this particular audience was composed of men who spend their time working outdoors, and both the classroom setting of the class and the paper testing procedure were a bit out of their comfort zone. Nonetheless, it would appear that the class was helpful, in that 2 out of 3 people who passed the exam had taken the class. In the future, the Agent would try to find ways to make some of the learning more hands-on, as well as some direct test-taking skill development.
The Agent, who has held ISA certification himself for several years, used the ISA's own 16-chapter study guide as a text for the class, and developed PowerPoint presentations for each of the chapters. Classes were held roughly monthly starting in August, 2011, and terminating in January, 2012. Each class lasted about 4 hours, and covered two chapters.
The workers took the test as part of approximately 20 individuals who tested at the 2012 Think Trees Conference, an annual tree care conference occurring in Albuquerque early each year. As an aside, this conference brings in national-caliber speakers, with an typical attendance around 350 people. The Agent has been very involved in the non-profit entity which puts on this conference since the beginning of his time with NMSU. Of the ten Bernalillo County workers who took the exam, only two were successful in passing it. Of the approximately 20 persons who took the exam, only three passed (two of whom were Bernalillo County workers who had taken the prep course being described herein).
The Agent had the class members do an evaluation, after having taken the test. The evaluation asked five questions: 1) Did you learn new information and or skills? 2) Do you thing you will use this new information/skill set in the future? 3) Will this new information/skill set be directly useful to you? 4) Prior to taking the Exam, how useful did you feel the class was? 5) After taking the exam, how useful did the class actually turn out to be?
100% responded "yes" to both question 1 and question 2. For question 3, 20% felt the new information would be "somewhat" useful, 20% felt it would be "quite a bit" useful and 60% felt it would be "very much" useful. For question 4, prior to taking the exam, 20% felt that the class was "somewhat" useful, 60% felt it was "quite a bit" useful, and 20% felt is was "very much" useful. For question 5, after taking the exam, 30% felt the class had been "somewhat" useful, 50% felt it had been "quite a bit" useful, and 20% felt it had been "very much" useful.
It is helpful to know that this particular audience was composed of men who spend their time working outdoors, and both the classroom setting of the class and the paper testing procedure were a bit out of their comfort zone. Nonetheless, it would appear that the class was helpful, in that 2 out of 3 people who passed the exam had taken the class. In the future, the Agent would try to find ways to make some of the learning more hands-on, as well as some direct test-taking skill development.
Tree care issues continue to be the most requested area of expertise and assistance that the Agent receives. Having established a reputation as a very good diagnostic arborist, Agent is now approached by many commercial operations, local public bodies, as well as homeowners for problem solving and advice. Agent has developed a few versions of presentations related to basic tree care in urban settings, which have been used for Master Gardener training as well as invited presentations to area homeowners’ associations and other venues.
Agent continues to be very involved with Think Trees New Mexico, a local non-profit which puts on an annual arboriculture conference with national caliber speakers; in 2011, Agent changed his role with this organization from Secretary to Vice President, the latter role being in charge of program development for the conference. Agent is also the Chairman of the Tree Planting Advisory Committee, a board which assists the State Forestry Division’s Urban Forester with a small grant program aimed at assisting with tree planting on public lands throughout New Mexico. Agent has also been a presenter at a one-day training program for award recipients, hosted at the BCCES office. Agent continues to maintain his Certified Arborist status through the International Society of Arboriculture.
Agent continues to be very involved with Think Trees New Mexico, a local non-profit which puts on an annual arboriculture conference with national caliber speakers; in 2011, Agent changed his role with this organization from Secretary to Vice President, the latter role being in charge of program development for the conference. Agent is also the Chairman of the Tree Planting Advisory Committee, a board which assists the State Forestry Division’s Urban Forester with a small grant program aimed at assisting with tree planting on public lands throughout New Mexico. Agent has also been a presenter at a one-day training program for award recipients, hosted at the BCCES office. Agent continues to maintain his Certified Arborist status through the International Society of Arboriculture.
While Agent is no longer the Horticulture Agent in this county, he continues to provide much programming and information in this area. Formal evaluation of programs and presentations is very limited, being basically two Master Gardener presentations for the Albuquerque Area Extension Master Gardeners. The results of those evaluations are herein provided, as a reasonable snapshot of clientele reaction to this Agent as an educator. For a presentation titled Trees for the Albuquerque Area, 38 persons responded to the survey. Scoring was on a 1-10 basis, with 10 being highly favorable, and scores were requested in the areas of Scope, Usefulness, Organization, Content, Met Expectations and Would Recommend to Others (two other areas were scored, Handouts and Visual Aids, but the Agent did not provide handouts and many did not respond on Visual Aids, so those numbers are not reported here). In the order presented above, Agent’s scores were: 9.47, 9.63, 9.58, 9.55, 9.47 and 9.55. Typical comments ran along the line of: “Well informed, great slides, good sense of humor”, “Extremely informative! One of the best lectures yet!”, and “Information matched with practical examples – very good”. Not everyone was pleased, however. One responder gave relatively low rankings and commented, “BORING – and something I could look up on my own”. For the presentation on Diagnostic Process, 29 people responded, and gave rankings (in the order above) of 9.41, 9.41, 9.28, 9.28, 9.34 and 9.38. Again, most comments were quite favorable, but the same disappointed audience member returned scores from 0 to 5, with the comment that “didn’t enjoy – BORING. Not a lot of useful information”. Can’t win them all, apparently. Agent taught classes for Sandoval, San Juan, Santa Fe and Valencia County Master Gardeners, as well, on Botany, Plant ID, Arboriculture, and Diagnostic Process.
Other programming not fitting into the main areas listed below included talks/presentations on edible weeds; basic xeriscape principles; aquatic plants; compost, organic matter and soils; and garden weeds.
Agent also provided Pesticide Applicator CEU workshop for the Bernalillo County Open Space Land Management workers, and hosted monthly meetings of an informal beekeepers group here in Albuquerque.
Other programming not fitting into the main areas listed below included talks/presentations on edible weeds; basic xeriscape principles; aquatic plants; compost, organic matter and soils; and garden weeds.
Agent also provided Pesticide Applicator CEU workshop for the Bernalillo County Open Space Land Management workers, and hosted monthly meetings of an informal beekeepers group here in Albuquerque.
Medium-term successes
Eddy County
Living Desert State Park, Eddy County Cooperative Extension, and the NMSU Extension Horticulture Specialist offered a Water Wise Landscape workshop attended by 38 citizens. This is an annual event that has resulted in increasing knowledge of plants and techniques to conserve water in Southeastern New Mexico landscapes. Attendees report successful changes in their landscape and irrigation practices as a result of this annual workshop.
Santa Fe (on-going projects) -
Habitat for Humanity has been using Santa Fe County Master Gardeners to design and install water efficient landscapes at the homes they build. The Master Gardeners then teach the new homeowners how to garden appropriately and conserve water.
El Rancho de los Golondrinos has worked with Master Gardeners maintaining a heritage apple orchard to demonstrate historical gardening practices to visitors.
Master Gardeners have maintained demonstration gardens and collaboration with NMSU Extension faculty (George Dickerson’s herb garden and Curtis Smith’s olla garden). This provides hands-on experience for the Master Gardeners who then teach this to their fellow citizens and to visitors to the demonstration garden site adjacent to the County Extension Service office.
CNM (formerly TV-I) – as chairman of the advisory committee for the Landscape Horticulture training program at CNM the NMSU Extension Horticulture Specialist was in a position to encourage cooperation between NMSU and CNM. Dr. St. Hilaire on the NMSU end and Paul Zalesak at CNM have developed articulation agreements between NMSU and CNM. Distance learning venues were developed so that NMSU professors could teach some of the classes at CNM and some CNM teaching could be made available to NMSU students as desired by the faculty.
Eddy County
Living Desert State Park, Eddy County Cooperative Extension, and the NMSU Extension Horticulture Specialist offered a Water Wise Landscape workshop attended by 38 citizens. This is an annual event that has resulted in increasing knowledge of plants and techniques to conserve water in Southeastern New Mexico landscapes. Attendees report successful changes in their landscape and irrigation practices as a result of this annual workshop.
Santa Fe (on-going projects) -
Habitat for Humanity has been using Santa Fe County Master Gardeners to design and install water efficient landscapes at the homes they build. The Master Gardeners then teach the new homeowners how to garden appropriately and conserve water.
El Rancho de los Golondrinos has worked with Master Gardeners maintaining a heritage apple orchard to demonstrate historical gardening practices to visitors.
Master Gardeners have maintained demonstration gardens and collaboration with NMSU Extension faculty (George Dickerson’s herb garden and Curtis Smith’s olla garden). This provides hands-on experience for the Master Gardeners who then teach this to their fellow citizens and to visitors to the demonstration garden site adjacent to the County Extension Service office.
CNM (formerly TV-I) – as chairman of the advisory committee for the Landscape Horticulture training program at CNM the NMSU Extension Horticulture Specialist was in a position to encourage cooperation between NMSU and CNM. Dr. St. Hilaire on the NMSU end and Paul Zalesak at CNM have developed articulation agreements between NMSU and CNM. Distance learning venues were developed so that NMSU professors could teach some of the classes at CNM and some CNM teaching could be made available to NMSU students as desired by the faculty.
Short-term successes
As reported in County Agents’ impact statements, specialist support of county agents and county Master Gardeners has enabled them to meet the changing needs of the nursery industry and home gardeners in their counties, to develop educational programs in schools and among the public.
Specialist support of county Extension programs have enhanced agent respect within the counties to the point that they are often the primary source of information that cities, counties, and other organizations use for referrals.
With specialist assistance Master Gardener programs in the counties are growing and providing increased assistance to the Extension Service agents as stated in the Agents’ impact statements. Master Gardener programs have resulted in significant teaching opportunities for county residents:
Lea Co. – Waite House – the oldest residence in Lovington was donated to the Historical Society and Museum. The museum then gave access to this house to Lea County Master Gardeners to develop a demonstration garden and access to the house as a classroom. This is a long-term and continuing project that provides landscape design and management demonstrations to citizens of Lea County.
NM Jr. College in Hobbs has been impressed by the Lea County Master Gardener program and has offered to provide classroom space for teaching Master Gardeners, advertising for the Master Gardener classes, and willingness to offer Junior College continuing education credits to people who take the Master Gardener classes. This collaboration began in 2009 and is continuing and growing. The New Mexico Junior College experienced a 60% increase in enrollment as a result of collaboration with NMSU and Lea County Master Gardeners.
Otero - Otero County Master Gardeners provided 6 educational programs to educate local gardeners about techniques for landscaping and gardening in a water conserving manner. They were provided NMSU publications and information. Through the year 49 Otero County Master Gardener volunteers provided 2269 hours of horticultural educational service to their fellow citizens.
Sandoval - A demonstration garden in developed in cooperation with city of Rio Rancho, Sandoval Extension Service, and Master Gardener has been highly regarded locally and nationally. In 2009 Master Gardeners had donated by the time of the county report over 2000 pounds of vegetables from this garden to two charities that distribute vegetables to people in need. The provision of fresh vegetables was a much needed addition to the foods available and the nutrition of program participants.
Master Gardeners provided well-attended plant clinics to answer gardening questions from 200 citizens annually. They conduct numerous educational programs for 500 county residents utilizing Master Gardeners, County and State Extension professionals as instructors. These have resulted in ongoing changes in gardening practices in Sandoval County.
Over 100 active Master Gardeners have contributed more than 5,000 hours of educational service to Sandoval County.
Bernalillo- About 200 active Master Gardeners assist the Bernalillo County Extension Program in offering horticulture education programs to the public. Many contribute more than the required 40 volunteer hours due to their commitment to the success of the program and desire to teach their fellow citizens. Volunteer activities exceed 10,000 hours in providing gardening information at libraries, the Downtown Growers Market in Albuquerque, 4-H Seeds program, the Organic Demonstration Garden, Tomato Fiesta, and various joint activities with the Albuquerque Council of Garden Clubs.
Valencia- Twenty-one Master Gardeners contributed 1, 297 volunteer hours in support of the Valencia County Extension horticulture educational program. The Master Gardeners maintained a demonstration water harvesting/container garden at the Valencia County Extension office using information provided by the NMSU Extension Horticulture Specialist and the County Agent. Master Gardeners conducted 50 plant clinics to provide educational outreach to Valencia County residents.
Los Alamos- Forty-two Master Gardeners volunteered 688 hours of a variety of horticultural educational service to county residents.
As reported in County Agents’ impact statements, specialist support of county agents and county Master Gardeners has enabled them to meet the changing needs of the nursery industry and home gardeners in their counties, to develop educational programs in schools and among the public.
Specialist support of county Extension programs have enhanced agent respect within the counties to the point that they are often the primary source of information that cities, counties, and other organizations use for referrals.
With specialist assistance Master Gardener programs in the counties are growing and providing increased assistance to the Extension Service agents as stated in the Agents’ impact statements. Master Gardener programs have resulted in significant teaching opportunities for county residents:
Lea Co. – Waite House – the oldest residence in Lovington was donated to the Historical Society and Museum. The museum then gave access to this house to Lea County Master Gardeners to develop a demonstration garden and access to the house as a classroom. This is a long-term and continuing project that provides landscape design and management demonstrations to citizens of Lea County.
NM Jr. College in Hobbs has been impressed by the Lea County Master Gardener program and has offered to provide classroom space for teaching Master Gardeners, advertising for the Master Gardener classes, and willingness to offer Junior College continuing education credits to people who take the Master Gardener classes. This collaboration began in 2009 and is continuing and growing. The New Mexico Junior College experienced a 60% increase in enrollment as a result of collaboration with NMSU and Lea County Master Gardeners.
Otero - Otero County Master Gardeners provided 6 educational programs to educate local gardeners about techniques for landscaping and gardening in a water conserving manner. They were provided NMSU publications and information. Through the year 49 Otero County Master Gardener volunteers provided 2269 hours of horticultural educational service to their fellow citizens.
Sandoval - A demonstration garden in developed in cooperation with city of Rio Rancho, Sandoval Extension Service, and Master Gardener has been highly regarded locally and nationally. In 2009 Master Gardeners had donated by the time of the county report over 2000 pounds of vegetables from this garden to two charities that distribute vegetables to people in need. The provision of fresh vegetables was a much needed addition to the foods available and the nutrition of program participants.
Master Gardeners provided well-attended plant clinics to answer gardening questions from 200 citizens annually. They conduct numerous educational programs for 500 county residents utilizing Master Gardeners, County and State Extension professionals as instructors. These have resulted in ongoing changes in gardening practices in Sandoval County.
Over 100 active Master Gardeners have contributed more than 5,000 hours of educational service to Sandoval County.
Bernalillo- About 200 active Master Gardeners assist the Bernalillo County Extension Program in offering horticulture education programs to the public. Many contribute more than the required 40 volunteer hours due to their commitment to the success of the program and desire to teach their fellow citizens. Volunteer activities exceed 10,000 hours in providing gardening information at libraries, the Downtown Growers Market in Albuquerque, 4-H Seeds program, the Organic Demonstration Garden, Tomato Fiesta, and various joint activities with the Albuquerque Council of Garden Clubs.
Valencia- Twenty-one Master Gardeners contributed 1, 297 volunteer hours in support of the Valencia County Extension horticulture educational program. The Master Gardeners maintained a demonstration water harvesting/container garden at the Valencia County Extension office using information provided by the NMSU Extension Horticulture Specialist and the County Agent. Master Gardeners conducted 50 plant clinics to provide educational outreach to Valencia County residents.
Los Alamos- Forty-two Master Gardeners volunteered 688 hours of a variety of horticultural educational service to county residents.