21
November/December 2019
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THE DAVEY BULLETIN
A prairie of wildflowers bloomed in a blanket of gold this
summer for the first time since construction finished on the
city of Kent police station's natural landscape in 2018.
Dave Goerig, project manager, Davey Resource Group, said
DRG was brought in to help restore and nurture the artificially
created ecosystem to transition the area to what should
have developed based on original plans for the site.
The project included taking soil samples and making
necessary amendments, including fertilization of maple
and tulip trees along parking lot bioswales; pruning, edging,
mulching and ongoing maintenance of flower and tree beds;
herbicide applications on invasive species and reseeding of
native vegetation around a large drainage basin; seeding of
Employees from the Western Operating Group R/C offices
and Davey's Omaha office attended an arborist skills
training program centered on chainsaw safety and precision
tree felling.
Jeremy Lewis, senior regional safety specialist, and Kasey
Swenson, regional safety skills specialist, facilitated the
training in Santa Cruz, California. This was the second
module of the three-part arborist skills training program.
"I hope they are taking back the safe working behaviors and
being an extension of the training in their local territories,"
Lewis said. "One of the things we've encouraged the
district managers to do after these trainings is to utilize
these employees to facilitate training among different crews
within their operation, so they are not just impacting one or
two people, but the whole office."
CHAINSAW SAFETY, FELLING
TOPICS OF TRAINING SESSION
Attendees included: J. Guadalupe Ahumada, Efrain Estrada,
Rigoberto Garcia, Joshua Gray, Osbeli Herrera, Douglas Lyle,
Clinton Moore, Victor Nava, Alex O'Neill, Cory Piotrowski,
Jake Riedasch, Eduardo Rocha, Richard Tarkington and Pablo Urbina.
no-mow turf grass; and installation of informational signage.
"Adapting a natural ecosystem to an urban area has been
a challenge. We're putting the property on a new trajectory
that's focused on education and commercial groundskeeping
techniques beneficial to the city and the environment,"
Goerig said. "People are now beginning to see how a
natural, eco-friendly landscape can be integrated into a very
formal, very urban, downtown area."
Davey's East Cleveland Commercial Landscape Services
territory and the Davey Institute both supported the project.
The site's basin was treated for invasive cattails, encouraging
the growth of sedge, bulrush and wildflowers.
REVIVING AN ECO-FRIENDLY URBAN LANDSCAPE
IMPROVEMENT
