NEWS

  For Immediate Release                                            Contact:

  May 13, 2005                                                                      Scott Wegenast       

502-574- 6712 — Cell: 718-3541

 

                                                                                                           

Kentuckiana Counties Selected for Nation’s First

Low-Maintenance Landscaping Design Contest

 

Louisville, KY  (May 13, 2005) – Homeowners as well as professional landscaping designers are eligible to compete for national recognition and cash prizes in the nation’s first local competition showcasing sustainable and reproducible low-maintenance landscape designs.  Louisville Metro Air Pollution Control District announced today that it has been selected by the U.S. EPA as a grant recipient to host the nation’s first Juried Low-Maintenance Landscaping Design Contest.

 

EPA’s $25,000 grant will promote improving regional air quality by reducing air pollution produced by gasoline powered lawn equipment and further highlight the benefits of low-maintenance lawn care concepts. The District introduced low-maintenance lawn care concepts in 2001 with its Lawn Care for Cleaner Air program.

 

According to the District’s Director, Art Williams, “I expect our hometown will be even greener and more beautiful thanks to the U.S. EPA’s grant. I’m especially proud that the winning designs will be made available to the public across our state and nation. The competition offers something for everyone interested in a healthier environment and alternatives to labor intensive, high-maintenance landscaping.”

 

Low-maintenance landscaping embraces strategies and practices designed to reduce the use of gasoline powered, high polluting lawn care equipment, frequent chemical applications, and excessive water consumption.  Low-maintenance landscaping designs also reduce the expense, time and labor required to maintain large grassy lots.

 

Director Williams added that, “We are very excited to receive EPA’s grant and expect that this competition will continue building on the success of our Lawn Care for Cleaner Air program. The competition will also promote new and creative solutions for improving our region’s air quality.”

 

Entries will be accepted from nine Kentuckiana counties: Bullitt, Henry, Jefferson, Oldham, Shelby, Spencer and Trimble counties in Kentucky, and the Indiana counties of Clark and Floyd.  The competition officially opens May 1, 2005. The deadline for entries is June 30, 2005. 

 

Individuals, homeowners and professional designers are encouraged to submit their designs for consideration, on one side of a 24" X 36" poster board or foam core. Designs must be for a residential lot, or portion of a lot, no larger than 12,000 square feet in size.  Fifty percent of the plants must be native to the counties in the Kentuckiana region. An application form and details on the competition are available on the Air Pollution Control District’s website – www.apcd.org.

 

A regional panel of horticulture and landscaping experts will judge all entries and announce the winners during a community event on August 15, 2005.  Cash prizes will range from $500 to $1,000 in each of the four categories. An additional $1500 stipend will be awarded for each of the four top designs in their categories: sunny, shady, mixed sun and shade, and homeowner design.  The additional award will go toward supplies and materials necessary for implementing and bringing the design to life. Students from the Horticulture Program at the Jefferson Technical College will volunteer to assist with implementing winning designs.

 

The District and U.S. EPA will make the winning designs available across the country as no-cost models for homeowners, businesses and communities to replicate and promote low-maintenance designs in their communities.

 

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Additional contest details and information are available at the Louisville Metro Air Pollution Control District’s website at: www.apcd.org