NHLA leaders and NHTI-Concord’s Community College are exploring the creation of a new certificate program to help educate Green Industry workers already in the field and to offer programs that will attract and prepare people entering the workforce.

The incentive came from an essay written by Bob Pollock in the February 2025 issue of the NHLA Newsletter. Pollack, a landscape architect and long-time teacher at NHTI, suggested that NHLA and NHTI could partner to bolster the current education offerings. Currently, NHTI offers a two-year associates degree and a certificate program in landscape design. Neither program is well-attended, and the college is considering dropping the courses — the only courses now offered in the state after UNH closed the Thompson School.
During a series of meetings in mid-April and early May, NHLA education coordinator Amy Papineau and I met with Dr. Liaquat Khan, chair of the academic department; Bob Pollock; and Kathy Taylor, NHTI’s director of workforce development and community education. Joining those meetings were NHLA president Andrew Pelkey of North Point Outdoors; Andrew Morse of Belknap Landscaping; Mark Aquilino, president of Outdoor Pride, and Brandin Swisher, owner of Alliance Landscaping.

The consensus is that NHLA and NHTI will develop three pilot trainings that will coincide with NHLA events, such as Field Day, Safety Day, and another winter meeting. The short-term trainings would be a hybrid of in-person/hands-on experiences and online courses that would be staffed by NHTI instructors or industry leaders NHTI would train.

Certificate programs and micro-credentials, rather than a two-year associates degree or academic term certificates, would be more marketable for employers and employees.

Taylor also proposed a six-week curriculum model for future consideration. Possible topics could include equipment and safety; basic plant management; irrigation or fertilization basics; hardscape basics; and snow removal.

This venture complements NHLA’s own successful Certified Landscape Professional program (NHCLP), now in its 25th year. The NHCLP program provides a standard of working knowledge and best practices across the Green Industry. NHTI programming can help prepare employees and business owners to continue on to earn an NHCLP. Post secondary education can expedite NHCLP exam eligibility with a reduced field requirement of 1400 hours in the field with one year post-secondary education. 2100 hours in the field is required without this education. An introduction to landscape topics can help prepare for the NHCLP exam in addition to NHLA review courses. Certification is available to any qualified nursery, landscape, or Green Industry professional who agrees to our code of ethics and completes an application for certification. The credential is earned by passing, with successful scores, a multiple choice written exam, and a Plant ID exam.

We will be soliciting input from NHLA members as the program development moves along in order to create a deeper and more direct connection to the program.

—by Mike Barwell, NHLA Education Committee Chair