SportsTurf provides current, practical and technical content on issues relevant to sports turf managers, including facilities managers. Most readers are athletic field managers from the professional level through parks and recreation, universities.
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/73468
Trust for the National Mall (TNM) and the NPS to perform an- other study and a plan to renovate the Mall. This time the request was to complete a major renovation instead of applying band aids. Well-known architect HOK was selected to provide design services for the first phase of this multi-year project. Late in 2009, I was selected as the Official Turf Consultant to Early in 2009 a project was proposed to the government by the the Trust for National Mall & Memorial Parks. The National Trust is raising funds from private sources to continue the improvement of the National Mall for the current phase and the remaining turf panels. In a collaborative approach to improving the turf condi- tions, HOK engaged additional specialists in the sports turf man- agement world. They brought in consultant Steve Legros from Turf & Dirt, Hagerstown, MD to assist with developing an operational plan; Dr. Peter Landshoot, Penn State professor of turfgrass science, was tapped to provide assistance with selecting the turfgrass; Dr. Norm Hummel, president of Hummel & Company, was brought on aboard to develop the soil structure; and Drs. Erik Ervin and Mike Goatley (current STMA President) of Virginia Tech were asked to perform studies on protective flooring surfaces for the new turfgrass system. Through this group we developed design and construction spec- ifications for the 36 turf panels on the Mall. Early in the process we made it very clear that the success of this project would require more than improved soils, turfgrass and state of the art irrigation. It would also require a more efficient event management system to monitor and schedule the thousands of permit requests the mall re- ceives each year. In addition to the event management upgrade, the NPS would need to develop a more aggressive turf management program. Calling it the "3 legged stool" became an acronym as without one of the legs the overall plan would fail. The exciting part is that everyone is on board to address each of the important components to ensure the Mall's renovation is successful. Once the design documents were completed in April 2011, the first Phase of the project was awarded to the Clark Company who began construction this past fall. The first phase includes installing two of four 250,000 gallon cisterns, installing a drainage system, ir- rigation system, improved soils and sodding with a three-way fescue blend of turfgrass. The first phase includes four panels totaling about 400,000 square feet (closest to the Capitol) and the infra- structure for the cistern system. TURF PROTECTION STUDY Early in the process we determined there was a need to evaluate all the methods that our industry has to protect the turf once the project was completed. Defining the type of turf protection re- quired testing so Virginia Tech was provided a grant to complete a study, the Trafficked Turf Systems (TTS). Dr. Ervin, Dr. Goatley and John Royse provided feedback on the study and the objectives. After all the hard work and investment restoring the National Mall www.stma.org SportsTurf 13