PPD - PPD News Xeriscaping

PEDER WINKEL AND HIS SON PEDER WINKEL HONORED AT HSC

Peder Winkel and his son, Peder Winkel were both honored at the HSC Service Pen ceremony. MORE>>

LACY C RABON JR CHILLED WATER PLANT DEDICATION

Friends and family of Lacy Rabon gathered at Building 473 on the UF Campus on May 23rd to dedicate Heat Plant #2 as the Lacy C. Rabon, Jr. Chilled Water Plant. Dave O’Brien welcomed Lacy’s widow, Jenny Rabon, and their two daughters, Lynn Patton and Gayle Kozinski to share in the occasion. In his opening remarks, O’Brien gave a little history about Rabon. He started working at PPD in 1962 and spent 45 years working in and leading the Building Steam, HVAC, Chilled Water Plants, Steam Distribution and Controls & Alarms shops. MORE>>

XERISCAPING

Physical Plant's Grounds Department is constantly searching for ways to reduce the amount of water necessary to irrigate the thousands of plants on campus. To that end, Grounds employs a strategy called xeriscaping to help cut down on water usage.

Xeriscaping is a landscaping philosophy that emphasizes using native and drought-resistant plants which do not require supplemental irrigation. Xeriscaped areas also require little maintenance and soil preparation to survive.

PPD Landscaping/Groundskeeping Superintendent Marty Werts said, "We're very committed to reducing our water usage in landscape design at Grounds. I would estimate that 80% of the landscape projects we implement are xeriscaped, and more than half of those designs incorporate primarily native plants." Native plants offer unique advantages, according to Werts. "We can greatly reduce the labor time involved in caring for landscaped areas using natives," he explains. "They're much more hardy because they're used to the climate and the soil - we don't have to amend the soil prior to planting. Also, they're very efficient when it comes to watering - most native plants can get by with just rainwater and don't have to be irrigated constantly."

However, not every design can incorporate native plants. Werts says that Grounds occasionally uses non-natives in some applications in order to promote plant diversity on campus. Care also has to be taken to match native plants to the right area for planting.

"For example, the blue flag iris is a native plant, but it grows primarily in wetland areas," said Werts. "That's not a plant that we want to put out in the middle of the Reitz Union lawn. It's important that we pay attention to a native plant's natural habitat when designing uses for them."

PPD Grounds Assistant Director Fred Gratto said, "I read recently that 1000 people move to Florida every day. In that same article, I learned that 450 acres of land in our state are cleared for development, every day. The impact on the environment is staggering. For example, consider the water level in the many lakes around nearby Melrose and Keystone Heights. Some of these once vibrant lakes are now not much more than big puddles. We know about the stresses on land and water resources, therefore it is important for us to use native plants so that we can do our part to help the environment."

Marty Werts echoes Gratto's sentiments - to both, using xeriscape strategies and native plants in landscape design is a necessity, as well as a philosophy. "Our landscape standards here at Grounds require that we use xeriscaping as much as possible," Werts said. "But even if they didn't, I'd still want to do it, because I just feel that it's the right thing to do. Conservation and sustainability are goals that we all should be working towards, and xeriscape designs incorporating native plants are an excellent way to meet those goals."

RECYCLEMANIA COMPETITION

The University of Florida, along with more than 400 other institutions of higher learning across the nation, is participating in the 2008 RecycleMania competition. RecycleMania is a yearly competition which began in 2001, and aims to provide “friendly competition among college and university recycling programs in the United States that provides the campus community with a fun, proactive activity in waste reduction”, according to their website. UF’s involvement in the competition is being spearheaded by the UF Office of Sustainability, in partnership with Physical Plant’s Solid Waste Management Office, the O’Connell Center, Gator Dining, Inter-Residence Hall Association, and other campus organizations. MORE>>

GREEN CLEANING AT BUILDING SERVICES

As part of Physical Plant's continuing commitment to the University of Florida and President Bernie Machen's vision of a sustainable campus, PPD Building Services has established environmentally-friendly policies for their cleaning products and services. The new initiative is called Green Cleaning, and it is beneficial both to the environment and to the customers which Building Services serves. MORE>>

LOWE GARDEN

The former site of Johnson Hall, which burned to the ground in 1987, is now home to a beautiful outdoor garden space named the Lowe Family Garden. The garden, located directly west of Dauer Hall, is the result of a PPD Architecture and Engineering project, and was funded by donations from its namesake, the Lowe family of Gainesville. MORE>>

PPD R.E.A.C.T. AWARD WINNERS

The R.E.A.C.T. award, created as part of PPD's Employee Recognition program, seeks to recognize employees who "Recognize an Event and Act to Correct in a Timely manner".