Former CLCA president Mickey Strauss recalls 1980 as a year when the construction industry was in recession, the marketplace was very competitive and "work was hard to get." But, he says, new hope soon arrived with the inauguration of Ronald Reagan i1980, and it wasn't long before things started looking up - for the country and CLCA.

One of Strauss's first goals as CLCA president in 1981 was to get the organization's budget process back on track. "Fiscal responsibility was a major challenge," he says. "But we bit the bullet, and if we didn't have the money, we didn't spend it. We got a handle on our fiscal responsibilities."

At the start of 1982, the nation was digging itself out of severe recession. "Reaganomics" had become a household word, and straspheric prime lending rates were finally on the decline. CLCA marked some of its own milestones that year including its first green-industry meeting in Las Vegas. "This was the predecessor to the Green Industry Council," Strauss says noting that early gathering's lineage to today's group. "We met with green industry leaders and associations, landscape architects and nurserymen, and we discussed the possibility of coordinating our mutual interests and legislative and communications activities.

Groundwork on the publition of landscape standards and the certification of employees was ongoing in the early 1980s. It was all part of CLCA's effort to improve the industry and "represent ourselves as professionals," Strauss says. "In fact, our slogan was 'People Helping People.'" The formation of LandPAC in the late '70s and CLCA's subsequent decision to move CLCA headquarters from Los Angeles to Sacramento in 1978 were pivotal decisions for the association. "We continued to be politically active," Strauss says, adding that a look at t budget from those years reveals a strong commitment to seminars, awards programs, industry shows, legislation and licensing. "All of it recognizing the tie to public relations."

In a guest column in Pacific Daily Builder, CLCA executive director Michael eson was forecasting a better economic year for 1983.

New members joined CLCA at a record breaking pace, as the industry rapidly grew. The CSLB later reported that the number of overall contractor licenses statewide had increased from 98,000 in 1977 to 16000 in 1982 - a more than 60 percent jump in just five years, despite the drought and recession.

CLCA had its work cut out. A proposal before the CSLB to increase the allowable dollar figure of unlicensed work from $200 to $750, and another to eliminate t craft portion of the contractor license exam, were met by strong association opposition. California Landscape Management ran a series of articles to keep members informed as CLCA continued to lobby. During this time, CSLB created the Non-Licensee Citation Programwhich in later years CLCA would work to protect when the state weakened the CSLB by taking revenue provided by contractor license fees to supplement the state's General Fund.

"We must all make sure we not only serve our members, but the public as well," Lson wrote in CLM the following year. "The association's objectives are to aid the industry's growth, but by and large we do so by removing obstacles to growth arising from law, regulations or negative attitudes both from within and without the construction communi."

By 1983 interest rates were sane again and both the weather and the economy were holding up. CLCA reached a milestone in its growth that year by entering escrow on its first headquarters building in Sacramento. As 1983 CLCA president Efraim Donitz recas, "Up to that time, the association rented space from the Association of California Nurserymen. By purchasing our own building it made us more independent and able to expand; up till then we were subject to the needs of our landlord."

A New Industry Standard

It was also in 1983 that, after four years in the making, CLCA conducted the first test of its new certification program. The association had already been instrumental in establishing new CSLB contractor licensing ex standards, but recognized the need for industry worker standards as well.

The CLT "Dry Run" was held in Santa Rosa, with materials and equipment furnished by the North Coast Chapter and meals provided by the Grass Widows. The program went active in June 84, with 12 of the 13 examinees passing the demanding test to become the industry's first Certified Landscape Technicians. ALCA eventually purchased the program, which spread across the country and became the international industry standard.

The associati also worked for many years to create the California Landscape Standards book. Penned by 1986 CLCA president Roger Fiske, who also chaired the Standards Committee and worked with many CLCA members and representatives of other interests, the book was copyrighted in989 and has since gone on to become the prime reference of minimum landscape standards for contractors, schools and lawyers.

Changing Times

Roger Fie recalls that the challenges of the landscape industry in the 1980s were the same as they are today, but that the social aspects of membership altered dramatically as the world underwent massive change.

"Back in the early days, CLCA was a good excuse to out to dinner. The association was smaller then and most of the members knew each other. Today, although the biggest benefit is still networking with other members and helping each other out, it's no longer the social organization that it once was." Another milesne was reached during that decade with the election of 1985 president Rose Marie Head as the first woman to lead CLCA in its four-decade history. A shining example of excellence and contribution, Head worked tirelessly to enhance the association during her tenure the board.

The industry lost a superb leader when she passed away in 1988 after a brief battle with cancer.

There were staff changes at headquarters as well, most notably the departure of Michael Leeson and the installment of Sharon McGuire as ecutive director in mid-1986. McGuire was the first to be promoted to the position from within. Like Michael Leeson and Kenneth Jenner before her, McGuire has remained dedicated to the betterment of the industry through many years of service.

The Start of Another Dry Spell

Following several years of good fortune and improvements, the industry began a long, slow trek across six years of drought beginning in 1987. Water issues rose to the forefront as the problem was addressedt every level of government. In response, CLCA redoubled its efforts to protect the industry from proposals that would unfairly injure it, and to ensure representation before public and private agencies.

In 1988, CLCA president Barry Cohen spearheaded the creation of the Green Industry Council and went on to be named president of that organization when it chartered in mid-1989. When AB 325 was proposed, CLCA participated in hearings at the State Capitol to ensure that public and industry concerns were addressed. Andhen L.A. Mayor Tom Bradley announced broad reductions in water for landscaping, Water Management Committee chairman Efraim Donitz wrote a letter urging him to not punish the industry - a pioneer in water conservation - when nothing was being done about politically influential industries that waste far more water.

Industry representation before the government became a higher priority than ever before during the '80s, and brought tangible results. In June 1988 the Office of Administrative Law approved CLCA's proposed nguage defining a landscape contractor. The new language eliminated the "gray area" from the former definition, clearing the way for C-27 holders to contract or subcontract all work related to a landscape project (with the exception of building pools).

Into the '90s

CLCA began the new decade by remodeling on several fronts. CLCA purchased and moved to a new building in Sacramento to accommodate its continuing growth. Its renamed newsletter, The Cutting Edge, debuted with expanded member news and information. And California Landscape Management - which, starting in 1986, had expanded its circulation from 2,000 member subscribers to 13,000 to include government and industry decision-makers - became California Landscape magazine, its n name designed to encompass an even broader scope of readers.

The changes reflected the association's growth and evolution even as it faced the dual-specter of drought and recession at the start of the '90s. But despite economic downturn there was good news for the industry, as reported in this outtake from the October 1991 edition of The Cutting Edge: "California's lawn and garden industry continued its steady growth, posting sales of $4.4 billion during 1990 [representing] a four-percent increase over 1989 and 21 rcent of lawn and garden sales nationally. The lingering recession has actually helped keep the state's lawn and garden industry in the black. Why? It seems that when there is an economic slump or even a gas shortage, people stay at home and decide to invest more in their yards."

And California's landscape professionals continued to invest in their future, one day at a time, by holding together in association to meet the challenges that were still to come.

Members Of The Year Regular/h3>

• 1989 Scott McGilvray
• 1988 John Nishizawa
• 1987 Ken Gerlack
• 1986 Ron Dietz
• 1985 Wayne DuBoise
• 1984 Jerry Lambert
• 1983 Jon Alsdorf
• 1982 Richard Cohen
• 1981 Roger Fiske
• 1980 Mickey Strauss

Members Of The Year Associate

• 1989 Alex Rosa
• >1988 No Award Presented
• 1987 Rick LaMantain
• 1986 Greg Meyer
• 1985 John France
• 1984 Robert Crudup, Jr.
• 1983 Tom Ellington
• 1982 Robert Crudup, Jr.
• 1981
• 1980 Nelson Colvin