Brought to you by the Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Authority.
The Water Smart Academy is created for landscape professionals looking to broaden their understanding of landscape management and irrigation systems. The free classes offer the latest in landscape irrigation best management practices (BMPs) to assure healthy, sustainable, and functional landscapes while avoiding water waste.
WATER SMART ACADEMY CLASSES ARE NOW FORMING FOR WINTER!
Lunch provided! Most classes are limited to 20 participants.
CEU’s for NMASLA and NM CID licenses
Location: 6000 Alexander Blvd. 87107
Get Certified! Choose any of these sections to get your team certified as a Water Smart Contractor
Certified Water Smart Contractor Classes
Irrigation Building Blocks – Proper Irrigation (4-part series)
Trainer: Chris Schlouski
Within every landscape in arid climates, there is a need for water management. Landscape designers and landscape architects need to be able to identify irrigation needs and properly design systems to fit those needs. Proper irrigation system design is critical and very often overlooked. The four-part class will break down the building blocks of spray irrigation, sub-surface irrigation, and drip irrigation design from conceptual ideas through installation. Additionally, we will look at strategies to help conserve water with your designed system and create the most efficient system for your project needs.
Innovative Classes! Take your knowledge to the next level
PVC Irrigation Systems – troubleshooting and adapting to low flow water use
Trainer: Jan Loving
Installing PVC Pipe, Fittings and Valves is like painting, everyone thinks they can do it. After all, how hard could it be? Like most things, there is a right way to solvent weld, install threaded connections, and repair PVC for trouble-free, long-lasting irrigation systems.
Landscape Maintenance for Stormwater Harvesting features
Trainer: Mario Nuño-Whelan
Learn the proper methods to maintain permeable pavers/pavement/concrete; stormwater conveyance structures such as stormwater bump outs, bioswales, trenches, and basins; plant maintenance in the different inundation zones; and mulch maintenance. Resources produced by the Arid LID Coalition such as the Maintenance Manual which includes maintenance checklists and frequency, as well as the video series that illustrates how to properly maintain these features.
Arboriculture for Non-Arborists
Trainer: Joran Viers
Presented in two sections; the first focuses on tree anatomy and physiology, looking at how trees are put together and how they function. We look at roots, stems, and leaves; how they do what they need to do, how they grow, and how environment influences those things.
The second section focuses on practice – what we do to/with trees, from planting to pruning, how the realities of tree growth and function inform how we manage them in our landscapes.
Symptoms and Signs: Diagnosing Tree Distress
Trainer: Joran Viers
Presented in one session. We focus on understanding how stress impacts trees and how they show that stress, with a visual tour through many locally common tree stressors and their symptoms and signs, with some discussion about prevention and control options. This presentation provides 4 NMDA Pesticide Applicator CEU credits.
Landscape Plant Maintenance
Trainer: Wes Brittenham
Over the course of four classes, we will discuss the appropriate care of grasses, perennials, shrubs, and trees, both native and adaptive. We will look at water needs, soils, and seasonal care from planting to pruning, in the ground, and in containers, as we focus on creating successful long-term strategies for maintaining healthy landscapes.
Scalable StormWater Drainage Strategies: Small to Large Sites:
Trainer: Jan Loving
Storm Water management including capture, storage, oil/sand interceptors from residential to commercial. Will include EPA and municipal requirements, including waste water treatment plant drainage versus storm water to river.
Please fill out the form fields below to register for a class.
Registrations must be received by 10:00 am the day before your class in order to secure class materials and food orders.
MEET THE ACADEMY TRAINERS:
Jan Loving: President of Loving & Associates, a manufacturer’s representative for irrigation, plumbing, and industrial products in New Mexico, El Paso, and southwest Colorado and a training instructor for stormwater drainage and PVC pipe valve and fittings for more than 30 years for contractors, architects, wholesalers, and municipalities. BA from the University of Texas at El Paso.
Mario Nuño-Whelan: Mario grew up in Albuquerque and works as a landscape designer for MRWM Landscape Architects. Prior to earning a Master of Landscape Architecture from the University of Arizona in the spring of 2020, he worked on landscape crews for two years, conducting maintenance and installing residential landscapes for design-build companies in Albuquerque. He’s passionate about stormwater harvesting and creating maintainable, high desert-appropriate landscapes that serve multiple functions.
Joran Viers: is a life-long student of nature and the natural sciences. Having grown up in various remote locales where plants and animals were always present, he developed a great appreciation for the diversity of life on this planet. Viers considers himself a servant of, and steward to, the planet, and he approaches his work through the broad lenses of Ecology. This approach, bolstered with considerable detailed biological knowledge, allows Joran to provide his clients with thoughtful, broadly considered advice aimed at improving plant health through improving site health.
Viers is trained in the biological sciences, with a Bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of New Mexico (summa cum laude) and a Masters degree in Botany from the University of Florida. Following his university studies, Joran worked in public service for many years. Initially he worked for the State of New Mexico as the Executive Director of the New Mexico Organic Commodity Commission, followed by a decade with New Mexico State University’s Cooperative Extension Service, where he was the County Horticulture Agent until he took the position of City Forester with City of Albuquerque Parks and Recreation Department. After a number of years, Viers left the city to enter private practice full time. He is an International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) Board Certified Master Arborist, and holds ISA’s Tree Risk Assessment Qualification. Viers is a member of the American Society of Consulting Arborists, and maintains a NMDA Commercial Pesticide Applicator’slicense.
Joran is recognized throughout the local area and across New Mexico for his technical expertise and ability to diagnose complex horticultural situations, his ability to communicate to a wide variety of audiences at their technical comfort level, and his excellent educational abilities
When not working, Joran can often be found in his own garden and will most likely be barefoot. He also enjoys river running, camping, playing music with friends and hanging out with his kids and cats.
Chris Schlouski: is an experienced Landscape Designer who values design and truly enjoys the art of place-making. A well-versed horticulturalist and construction project manager, Christopher has been creating beautiful and dynamic landscapes in New Mexico since 2008. Although often better known for his irrigation expertise and landscape construction experience, Christopher has worked through all phases of design, from conceptual drawings through construction completion. Christopher prides himself on his outstanding ability to collaborate with diverse teams and stakeholders, and he enjoys the process of discussion and coordination needed to bring any project to life.
Wes Brittenham: has over four decades of experience designing, installing, and maintaining large-scale commercial and residential landscapes, focusing on xeriscape, permaculture principles, Healthy Soil Principles, Wildlife Habitat, and edible landscapes. Recently retired from the position of Director of Horticulture at Los Poblanos Historic Inn and Organic Farm, he was also the Manager of Plants of the Southwest (Albuquerque), Operations Manager for Waterwise Landscapes, Grounds and Landscape Manager at Las Campanas Santa Fe, and Grounds Manager at Lovelace Health Systems. He has been active in the community with various landscape/agriculture volunteer organizations, taught Master Gardener classes in Bernalillo, Sandoval, and Valencia Counties, and has been an invited speaker at conferences, workshops, and garden clubs and groups for many years.