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A Day on the Job
By ELLEN MOSES How long have you worked as park foreman? Approximately four years. I've been with the city going on seven years. What did you do before coming here? Before I took this position, I was the horticulturist for the city. I used to (oversee) all the landscaping, turf and ornamental care for the city's parks and other facilities. What kind of hours do you work? Seven (a.m.) to 3:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, and if there are any special events, I usually work them too. What geographic areas are you responsible for? My responsibilities here include the Lakewood Sports Complex, Lake Maggiore Park, the environmental study area and the pioneer settlement area, including Boyd Hill, which is this large park. How many people do you supervise? I have a staff of eight people, and they all vary in rank. We do a lot of facility maintenance here. We do a lot of habitat restoration too, which includes removing exotics and replacing them with natural and native plants. What other tasks fall under your supervision? We have at least 5 miles of trails that need to be maintained. That includes mowing and trimming back tree limbs and so forth. Basically we have facilities that need to be cleaned every day. We pick up trash and take care of the picnic shelters. We do all the cutting, mowing, edging, blowing -- everything that you would have to do at your house, but just on a very large scale. Are you usually out there working with the crew? Yeah, I'm always falling in with the crew and supervising and making sure that assignments are getting done. I schedule the work every morning for everybody. What is your favorite thing about this job? I guess the biggest thing of it is, here we are in a large city, with a large population, and I've got basically 400 acres of country and nature surrounding me. Every day is different, and it's not like a routine type of job. It's just great to be in the outdoors. I've always been a naturalist and an outdoors kind of person. What is the hardest thing about your job? The biggest challenge I have out here is we've got a lot of areas out in the woods that have been taken over by exotic, invasive plants. So removing them and re-establishing native plants back in, along with all the follow-up work it takes to go back in there and to either spray it or manually remove it. Which non-native plants pose the biggest problem for the park? The biggest problem we have here is Brazilian pepper. The plant can grow 12 to 15 feet high in just a few years. It has a real dense foliage, which can shade out other plants, and it can take over just acres and acres of property very quickly. Syngonium and Taro (elephant ears) are also a problem. What kind of training did you need for this job? I took (horticultural) classes at PTEC, and I'm a Florida Certified Nursery Professional. I also have a commercial license through the state for ornamentals and turf, so I can buy any herbicides or pesticides that most people wouldn't be able to buy. What's it like working out here during the summer? It's very hot and humid. You make sure you just keep yourself hydrated. You drink lots of water, wear your hat. You just sweat a lot and learn to deal with it. What does your yard at home look like? It's absolutely beautiful. I love landscaping. Every area that I go to, I'm going to improve it. My yard is absolutely knock-dead gorgeous, believe me. I just got all my ornamentals replaced and my turf is like to die for. How much money do you make? Right now I think I'm at around $35,000 a year. I've still got three more steps before I achieve the max for my position. What is your dream job? Believe it or not, this is my dream job. I love the outdoors, I'm into horticulture. I like restoring areas and getting them back into their natural, native state. I get enjoyment out of seeing people enjoy the park. When they come out here and they tell me how beautiful this place is, and how well it's kept up, it's great.
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