High Desert RC&D council conducts a safety course in Spanish for Hispanic landscapers and laborers(NRCS image -- click to enlarge)

Nevada High Desert Resource Conservation and Development (RC&D) council  recently conducted a Spanish language safety course for Hispanic landscapers and laborers.  “The course was a huge success,” said Teri Knight, High Desert RC&D coordinator.  “Forty-two workers attended including several who drove 300 miles one way from Yuma, Arizona.”

Tree work in the Las Vegas, Nevada, area is performed by over 150 arbor/landscaping services whose labor force is over 40 percent Latino.  Based on surveys conducted by the USDA Cooperative Research, Education, and Extension Service, most of these laborers do not posses the education or English  language proficiency to perform their jobs safely.

“Our one-day course covers the five International Society of Arboriculture (ISA)  domains of safety -- pruning, tree biology, cabling, and planting along with an aerial rescue demonstration,” said Knight.  Participants receive a certificate of completion making them more valuable to employers and the community. Workers with ISA safety training reduce the cost of insurance to employers making the training a win-win business strategy.

It is also an excellent community outreach project.  When Knight had her palm trees trimmed at her home recently, two of the workers said, “Professora, we took your safety class!  Then they began showing me their safety equipment,” said Knight.  “It was really cool.”

Partners assisting with the training include the US Forest Service, Nevada Division of Forestry, Las Vegas Valley Water District, Western Chapter of ISA, Southern Nevada Arborist Group, Star Nursery, Marriott Hotel Group, Nevada Shade Tree Council, Southwest Tree & Turf and the Nevada Chapter of the Society of Landscape Architects.
Your contact is NRCS public affairs specialist Liz Warner at 775-857-8500 ext. 105.