by David DeJohn, NHCLP
March – April 2023

Well, here I am once again at this point I’ve been to twice before, writing my last President’s Notes for the Newsletter. As the restrictions of the pandemic fade further into the past and our ability to return to a more normal way of doing things becomes greater, I can’t thank the Board of NHLA enough for staying strong and focused on moving NHLA forward. I’m proud of what we have accomplished over the last couple of years and look forward to seeing where the next year, with new leadership and new, younger board members takes us.

This Association has been around now for forty or so years, and its primary mission remains the same to this day — to educate our members and help them maintain the highest standards of the landscape industry. 40 years is a long time though, and it’s easy over that period of time to resist change and to break old habits. Over the last few years, however, “we’ve never done it that way before” has given way to “we should try that,” and that sentiment is only getting stronger among this most current Board members.

In 2022 and again at the beginning of this new year, and with the help of Mike Barwell and Annette Zamarchi, we’ve held two Board Retreats that have helped us to look at where NHLA has been, who we are, and where we would like to go. It’s helped us look at the accomplishments over these many years and the challenges ahead. We’ve started to map out goals that include attracting new members and keeping current ones, creating more value to being a member of NHLA, looking at new ways to communicate with you through various platforms, and of course our primary objective, which is to educate and update you on the industry. On that front we have almost a full calendar of events for the year planned or in the planning stages so it’s going to be a busy year.

So, again, I’d like to thank everyone on the Board, our committee leaders, and our business manager for all your time and hard work. As a volunteer organization I know it’s not always easy to give your time to NHLA in between work and family and everything else, but you have really risen to the occasion, especially in this last year, and for that I am very grateful. Thank you.

And thank you to Landcare Associates for hosting the CPR certification course held in Epping earlier this month. It was a great course run by Eric Pike from McGregor Memorial EMS. I think we all came away feeling a little more confidence in being able to help someone if necessary. Thanks again.
Hopefully as this issue of the Newsletter comes out we will be gearing up for or maybe already out working on spring cleanups and getting projects started. I hope you have a great and successful 2023 season, and I look forward to seeing you at our upcoming Safety Day and all of our other planned events!

Happy Spring!