2019 NEAPMS Annual Meeting
As Black Lagoon turns the calendar to 2019, a highlight of our winter season is attending the annual NEAPMS (Northeast Aquatic Plant Management Society) Conference. The NEAPMS is an organization dedicated to the advancement of the aquatics industry. The NEAPMS mission is:
“to assist in the management of aquatic vegetation, to provide for the scientific and educational advancement of members, to encourage scientific research in all facets of aquatic plant and algae management, to promote an exchange of information among members and to extend and develop understanding in the discipline.”
The annual NEAPMS conference is the realization of that stated mission, and the entire aquatics staff at Black Lagoon had the pleasure of attending this conference from January 8th – 10th in Albany, NY. This year was particularly special for the Society as it marked the 20th anniversary of this event. For everyone here at Black Lagoon, this is the time of year where we focus on equipment maintenance, winter fountain service, and above all, staff training in all matters of pond and lake management. It is this annual conference that kicks off such training as we gear up for a very busy 2019 season.
The NEAPMS conference enables the Black Lagoon staff to stay current on what is happening in the aquatics industry so that we may bring the best service to our clients. The conference offers workshops and technical sessions over the two-day period, including presentations on water quality, plant identification, morphology as well as information on current “hot topic” issues. The conference offers an opportunity for our staff to view the aquatics industry from several different perspectives as colleagues from all corners of the industry, including regulatory, academic and applied technologies come together to examine and enhance proven strategies, and to discuss new technologies.
As all of Black Lagoon’s aquatics staff members are certified pesticide operators in their territories, the NEAPMS conference also offers the opportunity to earn continuing credits that are applied toward licensing and certification. Each staff member was able to earn Continuing Educations Units for this purpose. CEUs were earned by attending workshops such as algae and general aquatic plant identification presented by the leaders in the aquatics industry. New staff members were particularly interested in the algae/plant identification seminars, as well as a presentation on Environmental DNA in Aquatic Plant Research.
This year, a large portion of the conference was devoted to the Harmful Algae Blooms (HABs), as this represents the most immediate, “hot-button” issue surrounding the northeast and the rest of the country. During the 2018 season, Black Lagoon had the opportunity to assist a client in the treatment of a HAB on their lake, so naturally this issue was a focal point for members of our staff.
The 2019 NEAPMS conference was a rewarding and fun experience for all members of the Black Lagoon aquatics staff. As we head towards the spring of 2019, and the staff here at Black Lagoon is busy with off season maintenance and training, we can say that being a top company in Pond and Lake Management in the northeast always begins with the industry knowledge obtained at the NEAPMS annual conference.
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