On October 20, 21, and 28, SBN's GSI Partners will offer the second annual GSI Operation and Maintenance Course for landscape professionals to learn best practices and advance the skills of individual businesses as it relates to green stormwater infrastructure.
GSI practices require regular maintenance to ensure they continue to perform as intended, which in turn, helps to ensure that the stormwater regulations driving Green City, Clean Waters are being met. As the number of installed best management practices (BMPs) increase on public and private property, and as more operation and maintenance agreements begin to be enforced, the need for GSI maintenance increases. The growing need creates a significant opportunity for local landscape professionals. This course is intended to address the need and the opportunity.
This course is designed to increase the knowledge of landscape contractors and landcare managers as it relates to public and private GSI operations and maintenance. Students will leave this course with a basic understanding of the regulatory context of stormwater management, BMPs and their components, how to maintain the vegetation and above-ground components using adaptive and prescriptive management techniques, and how to diagnose and respond to safety and performance issues.
The 3-day course involves two classroom days and one field day. The classroom days will be on Thursday and Friday October 20th & 21st at Temple University's Center City Campus. The field day will be on Friday October 28th at Kensington CAPA High School and Shissler Recreation Center, otherwise known as the "Big Green Block."
The GSI Partners’ Continuing Education Grants are available for members interested in taking this course*. Learn more about the Continuing Education Grants here.
*The $375 per person fee for the course includes all course materials as well as breakfast and lunch for all 3 days.
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About The Sustainable Business Network of Greater Philadelphia (SBN) and the Green Stormwater Infrastructure (GSI) Partners
The Sustainable Business Network of Greater Philadelphia (SBN) is a non-profit membership organization working to build a thriving, local, and sustainable economy in the Greater Philadelphia region. We accomplish this by growing and educating a broad base of local, independent businesses and educating policymakers and the public.
SBN supports Green City, Clean Waters and its triple-bottom line approach, and through the GSI Partners, SBN is working to maximize the local economic, environmental, and social impact of the plan.
The Green Stormwater Infrastructure (GSI) Partners is a signature initiative of SBN working to advance the local GSI industry, innovation, and the local economy as it relates to GSI. Formed in 2012 in response to Philadelphia’s ambitious and innovative stormwater management plan, Green City, Clean Waters, the GSI Partners advocate for the greenest approaches to be facilitated and incentivized as much as possible, and for the public and private investment to remain as local as possible. Members include locally-owned engineering and landscape architecture firms; landscape design, build, and maintenance firms; and material suppliers whose services and products pertain to GSI. Many GSI Partners are recognized as industry experts, locally, regionally, and nationally.
