Landscape Professionals Absorb Stormwater Management

About 25 people attended The Watershed Institute’s inaugural Green Infrastructure Certification class for professionals.

The group of landscape designers, municipal officials, and others learned about various types of green infrastructure that help capture and absorb water as well as suitable native plants that will flourish in these stormwater facilities.

After the two-day classroom portion of the event, the group toured the Watershed’s rain gardens, porous pavement trail, and rooftop garden before visiting local residences and towns to evaluate other sites that incorporate green infrastructure into the designs.

The course, a partnership between the Watershed and the Chesapeake Bay Landscape Professionals, offered professional certification and continuing education units for the participants.

Dan Dobromilsky, a landscape architect in West Windsor Township, said the class was educational and also created a professional resource network of professionals to contact once New Jersey’s new stormwater rule is adopted. The new rule, expected any day, will require towns to update their existing stormwater management ordinances and incorporate green infrastructure into their designs and maintenance.

“The regulations are changing in New Jersey and I am trying to stay a step ahead of that by seeing what will be required for certification,” he said. “The Watershed has a lot of examples here that are convenient and you don’t have to travel far. There is some hope that the Watershed will be willing to help municipalities work out the kinks in the practical application of the regulations.”

Peter Ham, who does residential garden and landscape design, the training fits in directly with the Watershed’s mission. “Having the Watershed’s imprimatur on the certificate means a lot to my clients and the townships where I operate.”