County wins Turfgrass Award from Michigan State University

Oakland County is the first county in Michigan to be designated as a Certified Environmental Steward 2011-2013 by the Michigan Turfgrass Environmental Stewardship Program at Michigan State University. The award was announced Monday at the 2011 OakGreen Summit at the Oakland Schools Building in Waterford. "Oakland County is very proud to be the first county government to receive this environmental certification award," said Art Holdsworth, director of Facilities Management. "It took a lot of time and effort on the part of Grounds Division Chief Phil Goulding, but the value of having achieved this was well worth the effort." Oakland County Grounds Division garnered this recognition because of the way it manages its use of non-toxic chemicals on the grounds at its government campus and its environmental stewardship in the way it cares for grass, trees and plants. "Kudos to our Grounds Division team for achieving this level of excellence in caring for our government campus," said Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson. "When residents visit their county government campus, they will see the beautiful results of the Grounds Division's hard work." The Michigan Turfgrass Environmental Stewardship Program is intended to organize efforts of the turfgrass industry, state agencies, Michigan State University (MSU), and environmental advocacy groups to advance the environmental stewardship of the turfgrass industry and to recognize environmental achievements. The program was developed at MSU with support from the Michigan Turfgrass Foundation, Golf Association of Michigan, Michigan Department of Environmental Quality and Michigan Department of Agriculture. Over the past seven years, the Michigan Groundwater Stewardship Program has provided the base funding to develop the program. For additional information, go to www.mtesp.org/. Published: Thu, May 19, 2011