www.stma.org July 2015 | SportsTurf 9
SPORTSTURF: What are the most important changes
you've seen in sports turf management in your career?
OWEN: The explosion of technological innovations must
head the list here, as it most likely would relative to most other
industries.
The expansion of the professional sports turf managers'
network around the country and even across the globe has been
phenomenal, in no small part due to the leadership and tone
set by STMA. All members of the industry are benefitting in
meaningful ways, as are related professions including builders,
coaches, athletic directors and others.
Research specifically targeting sports turf has burgeoned.
A lot of very sharp minds at universities and elsewhere across
the country are tackling difficult problems, finding solutions
that can be used from small town school departments to
international level professional sports. Look at the breadth of
topics being investigated: from determining nutrients' impact
in integrated management of pests, to developing models for
managing municipal and school fields with no pesticides, to
evaluating synthetic surfaces for optimum human and envi-
ronmental safety, to breeding new and improved cultivars of
grasses specifically suited for sports turf, to use of sophisticated
lighting systems to increase turf potential. And more!
The federal government has given a nod to turfgrass as
an important component of our environment and deserv-
ing of financial support, thanks to the tireless efforts of the
National Turfgrass Federation (NTF) and many in the industry.
Turfgrass is now considered an eligible entity in the Specialty
Crop Research Program enabled in the Farm Bill. This is
significant. It means that the door is now open for turfgrass
researchers across the country to compete for federal dollars.
In the past few years about $15 million has been distributed in
research grants and other awards for turfgrass work. The devel-
opment of the National Turfgrass Research Initiative (NTRI),
the funding of turfgrass research staff at USDA Agricultural
Research Service (ARS) labs in Beltsville and Utah, and more
recently the implementation of the Grass Roots Initiative in
partnership with the National Arboretum are all very positive
developments. These efforts show a commitment shared by the
public and private sectors to enhance and communicate the
"I do have a synthetic surface pet
peeve: people who use the word
'turf' to generically describe artificial
surfaces. I just wish they'd cut it out."