MELA | Midwest Ecological Landscaping Association


7:30 am	Registration Vendor Fair Book Fair
8:30 am	Opening Remarks
9:00 am	Opening Keynote: Doug Reed, Reed Hildebrand
10:15 am	Vendor Fair Book Fair
11:00 am	Eco-Functional Design, Jacob M. Blue, Senior Landscape Architect, Director of Design, Applied Ecological Services, Inc. Eco-friendly Landscaping, Jeff Swano, President/Owner, Dig Right In Landscaping, Inc. Front Yard Native Garden Design, Lynora Jensen, Owner, Jensen Design, Inc. Screening: Green Fire: The Life and Legacy of Aldo Leopold Enhancing your Relationship-Building Skills, Jacqueline Loewe, Founding Partner, Sheridan Park Consulting
12:00 pm	Lunch Polaris Award Vendor Fair Book Fair
1:30 pm	Natural Alternatives in Pest Management, Donald C. Booth, Ph.D., Entomologist and Erik Grossnickle, Arborist; Bartlett Tree Experts Perceptions of Nearby Nature/Adoption of Ecological Practices, Lynne Westphal, Project Leader/ Research Social Scientist and Paul H. Gobster,Research Social Scientist; USDA Forest Service The Sustainable Edible Garden, Jeanne Pinsof Nolan, Owner and Jacqueline A. Kotz, Landscape Architect; The Organic Gardener Marketing Sustainability, John Harris, Principal, a5
2:45 pm	Retrofitting Subdivisions, Edith Makra, Community Trees Advocate, Klehm Arboretum & Botanic Garden Horticultural Based Water Management, Larry Cammarata, Green Management Consultant, The Brickman Group Ltd. Bringing Balance Home, Brian Cretton, Permaculture Design Consultant, BIO-Design Solutions/ Maple Grove Organic Farm It's About Time Steve Pearce, General Manager, Sebert Landscaping
3:45 pm	Closing Remarks: Moving Beyond Sustainability to Regeneration, Richard C. Hayden, Garden Roof Department Manager, American Hyrdrotech, Inc.
5:00 pm	Sustainable Social

MELA 10th Annual Conference 2012
Balance: Natural Systems and the Built Environment

Conference Highlights

View these presentations from the MELA Annual Conference (PDFs):

Download the schedule and link to speaker and workshop information.

See what MELA suppliers have to offer:

This year's MELA Conference drew a blend of attendees never seen before. Landscape Architects and Sustainability CEOs joined MELA this year, in addition to community green space experts like the MELA Polaris winner Ben Helphand from Chicago's NeighborSpace; municipal management leaders; and land managers from private sector facilities and land conservation groups. Attendees from five Midwestern states were represented.

MELA Conference Speaker This new type of MELA audience might be due to the unique lineup of keynote speakers and breakout sessions and the provocative topics they covered.

Opening keynote Doug Reed (pictured here), Principal at Reed Hilderbrand, set the tone for the day by making us look even more carefully at the existing ecosystems of the sustainable projects he showed us. At the same time he reminded us that "people" are part of the ecosystem. What did these landscapes mean to the people who occupied them prior to his practice making changes? Sometimes the land was historically valued; sometimes it was what the land "could" mean to people if restored properly. Overall, Reed concluded that "ecological theory now must include equal emphasis on humans in the landscape, and the idea of how they will be using the land." Food for thought for everyone doing projects restoring and regenerating landscapes.

The Conference breakout sessions also brought a people focus, along with their emphasis that built environments must work with all natural "systems," not just one of its elements. Conference session Included were sessions that covered people skills like networking, and marketing your business to people. In addition, research about how people "feel" about ecology and the environment was presented; along with sessions on how people feel about gardens sprouting up in front yards; how people can grow their own food amidst their flower gardens; how we can help people use water properly in their landscapes; and how people in subdivisions work together to solve environmental problems.

A snow storm quickly gathered outside, but a group of hardy Conference-goers stayed on to close their day with Dick Hayden, American Hydrotech, who moved the day's conversation beyond sustainability to regeneration — what he defined as a global perspective that comes from the heart to not only "sustain" our world, but also to improve Conference Vendors it in terms of protecting freedoms and creating opportunities with energy, engagement and dignity.

During the course of the event, a 20 plus group of vendors presented a wide array of innovative products for use in sustainable landscapes. A first ever Book Fair also took place all morning, with proceeds of over $2,000 in sales benefitting MELA's future educational initiatives.

Annual Conference