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<br />representative from GreenCO, the green industries, here, who would like to talk about their best
<br />management practices, speak about the report they're compiling, which specifically, as part of it,
<br />addresses drought, John, if you want to give us a quick update on what you've been up to,
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<br />John Gibson - Thank you, Brad, My name is John Gibson, and actually, I work with Swingle
<br />Tree and Landscape here in Denver, But I represent the Green Industries of Colorado, and the
<br />Green Industries of Colorado is an umbrella group that is a combination of nine different trade
<br />associations within the State, We include the landscape architects, the landscape contractors, the
<br />nurserymen, the lawncare professional, the garden centers, the greenhouse growers, the arborists,
<br />the sod growers, as well as the wholesale florists, So it's a pretty wide spectrum ofthe landscape
<br />industry, Our industry., ,our association represents about 1500 member companies, around 40,000
<br />jobs in the state, and around a $2 billion economic impact in the state, One thing that we're very
<br />aware of, is what our industry means to water, We know up and down the Front Range and in
<br />many communities around the state that 50% of treated water goes on the landscape, We also see
<br />that there are great benefits to the landscape, And we would like to make sure that we balance
<br />both of those discussions, Just as Colorado has a drought response plan that started years and
<br />years ago and was the first one in the country, we know that we're the first state in the country
<br />right now that has spent time working on a drought response plan for the landscape industry, We
<br />started on this project back in 1996 and we're really starting to get the ball rolling in the last
<br />couple of years, wish we had another year to get some things done before the drought showed up,
<br />We would have been, I think, perfectly set. One of the things that we want to talk about is the
<br />partners that we've had in this process, who have we been working with over the past few years,
<br />Big partners include Colorado Water Conservation Board, the non-point source program, pollution
<br />prevention partnership, Colorado State University's Cooperative Extension, the Colorado Water
<br />Resources Research Institute, the Colorado Waterwise Council, Denver Water, and the Governor's
<br />office of Energy and Management and Conservation, So again, a wide group working with our
<br />wide group, we have an opportunity to make a big impact. Some of the goals of our project, we
<br />want to provide tools for our members to effectively teach their consumers, teach their employees
<br />how to save water, How to design landscapes, how to install landscapes, how to maintain
<br />landscapes by using less water, One of our other goals of our program is to partner with the water
<br />providers, We know we have the technical information and we'd like to get that information out
<br />to the providers, so people who are developing drought response plans, wed like to be able to help
<br />you make those plans and let you know at what stages of drought should you be recommending
<br />what things, Is it a three-day watering cycle that helps your supply issue? Well, let us tell you
<br />how to help that. If you go to an every 10 day, well, let us tell you what the priority things are in
<br />the landscape you can protect on a 10 day cycle, What things should you give up on? What
<br />things should you educate the consumer on, especially related to grass? We know that turf grass
<br />uses some water in the landscape, well, let's talk about what type of turf grass to put in, I don't
<br />know if you're aware, but bluegrass can go dormant 6-9 months without water, it will mostly
<br />recover the following season, Try that with some other types of turf grass, it won't happen,
<br />They're going to go dormant, they're going to drought stress completely, and they're going to die,
<br />We've to look at, across the Front Range and across the state, what is the investment that people
<br />have in their landscape, and what does it take to support that? Trees that are 40-50-60 years old
<br />have to have water, If they don't, they're not going to survive in a drought. You might have to
<br />prioritize at certain stages of drought different parts of the landscape, Then we've got information
<br />to help you with that,
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