Extension Spotlight: AEC’s Kristen Kyler Certified as Conservation Landscape Professional Trainer

The AEC's own Kristen Kyler has become one of the first two conservation professionals in Pennsylvania to be certified as a conservation landscape professional trainer under the new Chesapeake Bay Landscape Professionals (CBLP) certification program.

The program, which began in 2016 in Maryland but came to Pennsylvania for the first time last year with courses in Lancaster, is a voluntary credential system for professionals who design, install, and maintain sustainable landscapes.

Training and exams are based on a core set of standards in sustainable landscaping, emphasizing stormwater retrofit best management practices and conservation landscaping with native plants to benefit the environment. The training includes a day of classroom presentations and hands-on activities. The second day of the training is spent in the field, visiting existing stormwater practices and learning how to evaluate their functionality.

"There is increasing emphasis on landscaping for water quality benefit," says Kyler, who coordinates programs for the AEC in the Lower Susquehanna region with special emphasis on green infrastructure and partnerships to restore watershed. "As more and more municipalities, community organizations and individuals look for cost effective ways to achieve water quality goals particularly here in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, landscape professionals with conservation landscaping credentials will be increasingly in demand."

To date, CBLP has certified 233 conservation landscape professionals.

Joining Kyler as a Pennsylvania certified CBLP trainer is Nick Myers of LandStudies, Inc. Kyler and Myers will lead another course this summer in State College, on July 30th and 31st.

To learn more about the Chesapeake Bay Landscape Professional certification program and to register for the State College course, visit www.cblpro.org.