Falmouth Ashumet Plume

                                                                                                                       Citizens Committee-FAPPC

 

 

 

 

FFL Certification for Lawn Service Providers                       

 

 

                       

 

In Concept, FFL Certification is like the UL Seal given to products that meet the safety standards of Underwriters Laboratory when producers voluntarily send them to UL for testing.

• Lawn Service Provider applicants agree to determine a duty class for lawns of customers who wish to participate in FFL care, and to apply to the customer’s lawn no more than the FFL rate of fertilizer nitrogen [N-rate] recommended for the customer’s duty class.
• In exchange, the Board of Selectmen awards the LSP a framed FFL Certificate and the right to use the FFL logo [as above] and label on vehicles, cards, contracts, invoices, etc.

 

There are 3 duty classes and N-rates.  The N-rates reflect contributions from recycled clippings and atmospheric deposition to home lawns of as much as 1 ½ lb N/1000 sq ft/year:

• Light Duty.  Most home & similar lawns……………………………..  0 to 1 lb N/1000 sq ft/yr 
• Medium Duty.  Campus-type lawns with significant foot traffic……>1 to 2 lbs N/1000 sq ft/yr
• Heavy Duty.  Golf course, other playing areas with heavy traffic…>2 to 3 lbs N/1000 sq ft/yr

 

Certification is a new outreach effort of the FFL Campaign to:

• Homeowners directly via mail, media and other publicity, and point of sale information
• Local organizations, as leadership examples of healthy lawns without excessive fertilizer
• Create more access to members of Certified organizations for homeowner education  
• Lawn Service Providers with direct contact with owners and their lawn care practices

 

For a Lawn Service Provider to help clean up our ponds, it takes just 3 simple steps:

• Apply for a Certificate; agree to explain FFL care to customers – some or all, you decide
• Give customers accepting a  FFL N-rate an “I Support Falmouth Friendly Lawns” sticker
• At the end of the year, give us a summary of your actual N rate for all “stickered” customers

 

Forty-two organizations are Certified [see second page]; by spring, we expect to have 100. When they look for FFL care for themselves and their members, they’ll see you on the Certification list.

• We will supply you FFL Brochures and point of sale materials

• We will continue active media and other publicity listing your name as FFL Certified

 

We don’t expect to roll back high N-rates overnight, but: we must start changing habits.  Healthy coastal water is in everyone’s interest --- yours, your customers and the Town’’s very economy

• Dying coastal ponds is not an option; if we don’t act voluntarily, the regulators will

 

So, please apply for Certification; appear on TV13 and get your photo taken with Carey Murphy --- it may even make the papers.  Even if it doesn’t, we’ll frame it with your Certificate.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                               Falmouth Friendly Lawn Certification Program                                                         

 

 

 

 

Lawn Service Provider Application Form                               

 

 

 

 

 

To foster Falmouth Friendly Lawn Care and help protect Falmouth Bays and Ponds from fertilizer nitrogen pollution,                                                [“Applicant”] wishes to offer and promote FFL-Certified fertilizer application services to Applicant’s retail customers in Falmouth.

 

In order to qualify as a Certified Lawn Service Provider, and thereby to obtain a license to use the logo [shown above] and the Falmouth Friendly Lawn label for so long as the Certificate is in effect, Applicant will:

 

·          Explain why conserving fertilizer nitrogen is an important and responsible objective

 

·          Provide interested customers a FFL Care Brochure and other FFL educational materials.

 

·          Encourage customers to qualify for FFL-Certified Care and thereby accept their own share of responsibility for helping to protect Falmouth Bays & Ponds from nitrogen pollution

 

·          Qualify willing customers by completing the Customer Services Check-off List, using reasonable judgment for classifying lawn duty use and related fertilizer nitrogen rates. 

 

·          Give Qualified Customers the “I support Falmouth Friendly Lawns” window/bumper sticker as evidence of their participation in the FFL Certification program.

 

·          Deliver the services requested by Qualified Customers as specified in the Check-off List.

 

Applicant is aware that an application to renew a FFL-Certificate issued in 2004 must be accompanied by a report of actual fertilizer applications to the lawns of Qualified Customers.

 

Thank you for your interest in the FFL campaign and fertilizer conservation.  Please keep a copy of this Application Form for your records and mail the original to: Falmouth Friendly Lawn Campaign, Falmouth Town Hall, 59 Town Hall Square, Falmouth, MA  02540.  For faster response from the FFL Campaign, please fax a copy of your Application Form to: 508.540.9584.  

 

 

 

Name:                                                                                     Title:                                                               

 

Entity:                                                                          Falmouth Areas Served:                                

 

Address:                                                                                                                                             

 

                                                                                    Phone:                           Fax:                          

 

Date:                                                                           Cell phone:                                         

 

 

 

 

 

   [Business Card]

                                                               Falmouth Friendly Lawn Care          

 

 

Customer Services Check-off List                                                       

 

 

 

 

Prepared for:                                          Address:                                           Lawn Area:                                   

 

 

·         We recommend an annual rate of __ lbs N applied in __ applications of __ lbs N each. 

• We use                                    brand fertilizer, with __ % Total N, including __ % slow release N.
• For the season in total, we will apply __ lbs of fertilizer containing __ lbs of nitrogen.

 

 

□  Mowing Height 2 ½” to 3”                □  Recycle Clippings [supplies at least 1 lb N per 1000 sq ft/year]

 

□  Spot-treat weeds [ organically]     □  Do __ inspections to check for weeds and/or pests

 

□  Test Soil            □  Lime [if needed]            □  Top Dress               □  Overseed with Fescues

 

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  

 

                        [Lawn Service Provider Copy --- please tear off and retain]

 

 

Customer name_______________

 

Address______________________

 

Lawn area______________

 

Lawn duty___________

 

Annual N-rate __________

 

Fertilizer brand_____________

 

Total pounds fertilizer__________

 

Other services

               Inspection for weeds and or pests_____________

               Spot treat weeds___________

               Test soil____________

               Lime (if necessary)________

               Top dress_____________

               Overseed_____________

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                    Falmouth Friendly Lawn Certificate Renewal                                                                                       

 

 

Lawn Service Provider Report of Fertilizer Applications in 2004             

                                                                       

 

 

Qualified Customer Description:  

The total number of our customers that qualified for FFL-Certified Care in 2004 is:___.  Of them,

____ # of lawns are classified Light Duty with total area of approximately                               sq ft.

The other____ # lawns with approximately _____             sq ft are classified ______ Duty because:                                                                                                                                            

 

Standard Fertilizer Description:

Brand:                                              NPK #s:                          Slow-Release Nitrogen:          %

Our standard application rate is:     lb N/1000 sq ft.  Exceptions [describe]:                                                                                                                                                                                                           

Service Provider Affirmation:

Sufficient records have been kept to demonstrate that the amounts of fertilizer nitrogen applied by our firm to the lawns of Qualified Customers did not exceed FFL Guidelines for the applicable Duty Classification(s).  Since this is the first year of Certification, the FFL Campaign may ask to meet with you (at your convenience) to review the year’s activity with Qualified Customers to consider, among other things, suggestions about how to improve the program for 2005.

 

By:                                                    Title:                                                    Date:                             

 

Firm:                                                 Phone:                                                 Mobile: