Industry News

Alumni Turf Group sets date for Troll Classic

The Alumni Turf Group from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst has set the date for the 5th annual Joseph Troll Turf Education Fundraiser. It will be Sept. 29 at Lyman Orchards Golf Club, Middlefield, Conn.

The 2008 honoree will be George Thompson, CGCS, recipient of the 2002 USGA Green Section Award.

Additional details will be available later on the group's Web site.

EPA offers $50 Million to clean up existing diesel engines

The EPA has announced the availability of almost $50 million in grant funding to establish clean diesel projects aimed at reducing emissions from the nation's existing fleet of diesel engines.

The unprecedented sum, which was authorized by the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and funded for the first time this fiscal year, will be administered by EPA's National Clean Diesel Campaign and its network of seven collaboratives, made up of EPA regional offices and public and private sector partners.

Diesels are the economic workhorses of the nation, and over the past decade, EPA has set stringent new particulate and nitrogen oxide standards for most types of new engines. The funding is aimed at reducing emissions from the existing fleet of 11 million diesel engines that pre-date these standards.

State, local, regional and tribal governments can apply for the grants, as well as non-profits and institutions with transportation, educational services and air quality responsibilities. 

The grants are targeting school or transit buses, medium and heavy-duty trucks, marine engines, locomotives and nonroad engines. Grant recipients can use a variety of cost-effective emission reduction strategies, such as EPA-verified retrofit and idle-reduction technologies, EPA-certified engine upgrades, vehicle or equipment replacements, cleaner fuels and creation of innovative clean diesel financing programs. 

One example is detailed in a case study about the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians in Michigan submitted to the EDGE online environmental resource  by Paul Galligan, GCSAA class A director of golf courses and grounds maintenance at Grand Traverse Resort and Brian Napont, Grand Traverse Band air quality specialist.

The band utilized funding from the clean diesel program to retrofit two mowers and a tractor operated by Grand Traverse Resort. The resort also hosted a Diesel Retrofit Boot Camp to assist others interested in retrofitting diesel engines. For more information, visit http://www.epa.gov/cleandiesel.

Heartwood extracts thwart sudden oak death
 
Sudden oak death has killed an estimated 1 million oaks and tanoaks in the U.S. since it was discovered in the mid-1990s. Now, help may be on the way for the more than 100 species susceptible to the disease.

Agricultural Research Service plant physiologist Daniel Manter has found that extracts from tree heartwood can limit the growth of Phytophthora ramorum, the microbial agent that causes this devastating disease. For years, scientists have known that tree heartwood contains protective antimicrobial compounds, but it wasn't known whether these compounds could offer protection against P. ramorum.

Manter, with the ARS Soil Plant Nutrient Research Unit, Fort Collins, Colo., and his colleagues exposed spores to compounds, wood chips and essential oils extracted from heartwood. They found that extracts from incense cedar, western red cedar, Alaskan yellow cedar, western juniper and Port Orford cedar destroyed P. ramorum spores and inhibited fungal cell growth.

The western red cedar and incense cedar extracts damaged twice as many spores as the extracts taken from Alaskan yellow cedar, western juniper and Port Orford cedar. Douglas fir and redwood extracts showed little to no antimicrobial activity against the pathogen.

Tree heartwood extracts could provide easy-to-use, environmentally friendly, effective tools for SOD control. Heartwood could be processed into shavings, sawdust, wood chips or liquid extracts. These materials could then be distributed in areas with high human activities—such as park trails, walkways, and bike paths—to reduce spore movement and prevent the spread of the disease. For more, visit the April 2008 issue of Agricultural Research magazine.

Smithco announces 2007 award winners

Smithco has presented its two Founders Cup trophies for outstanding distributor performance in the sale and support of the company's turf machinery products.

The 2007 International Distributor of the Year was awarded to the Mikuni Corp., Machinery Division of Tokyo, Japan.  Accepting the award was Managing Director, Takeshi Hashino. 

The winner of the Smithco North American Distributor of the Year was the G.C. Duke Co. Ltd of Burlington, Ontario, Canada.  Accepting the award was the sales director, Dick Raycroft. 

Smithco also recognized outstanding performance by distributor sales team members.  For 2007 the awards went to Mark Casey of the S.V. Moffett Co; Steve Bourgeois of the B.Hayman Co., Al Kakazu, general manager of the B. Hayman Co.; and  Jason D’Andrea of the G.C. Duke Co. Ltd.