[MAIPC] MAIPC Board Introductions

[Steven Manning]

Hi MAIPC members,

My name is Steve Manning and I'll be introducing myself today.  I'm
currently acting as the VP of MAIPC but my term ends this year so if you
have been considering stepping up and becoming more involved with MAIPC this
might be your opportunity.  I've been participating with MAIPC for many
years now and hope to be involved with it for the remainder of my career.
I've been involved long enough that I am beginning to feel like one of the
old guys around.   I'm also the President of the Pacific Northwest Invasive
Plant Council (PNWIPC) and have been a co-chair of the National Military
Fish and Wildlife Association's Invasive Species Working Group for the last
three years.  

The reason I'm so geographically disoriented is because of the business I
own, Invasive Plant Control, Inc. (IPC). Our projects and staff range from
the Virgin Islands to Maine all the way to the states of Oregon and
Washington.  I started this business in 1997 with my business partner Lee
Patrick.  Since the invasives industry is so young we have spent more than
20 years going to where the work is.  Unfortunately, there is never enough
in one place to put down roots, but so far, it has made for an exciting
career.  We have been able to work with some fantastic people in the
Mid-Atlantic and are working in DC, Virginia, Pennsylvania, West Virginia
and Maryland throughout the entire year with full time staff in the region.


I remember about 30 years ago standing in a hole I had dug to remove a huge
bush honeysuckle from a private resident's home in Nashville, TN.  She had
10 of the largest bush honeysuckle bushes I had or have ever since seen.  It
was pouring down rain and she was adamant about not using chemicals so there
I was digging deep holes and leveraging these large bushes out of the
ground.  At the time I had just finished my undergraduate degree with the
intention of someday becoming a director of parks for some municipality or
state organization.  Before I headed off to graduate school I thought it
would be  good idea to get some work experience so I had secured a job at a
local Not for Profit called the Friends of Warner Parks.  This friends group
worked closely with the TN IPC which was my introduction to EPPC's.  As
their volunteer coordinator one of my jobs was to train volunteer crew
leaders to assist in invasive plant events at this 3,000-acre natural area.
At just about every event someone would ask me if I could come to their
house and help them with the invasives in their yard.  It sounded like a
great way to make a little extra money so I turned it into a part time
business.  It was standing in that honeysuckle hole in the rain that I
decided to try and make something bigger out of that part time business.
Within a few months I had applied for graduate school and attended the
University of Utah to receive my Masters in Parks and Recreation and went
directly from Salt Lake City to the University of Oregon to work on my MBA.


Part of the MBA curriculum at the University of Oregon allowed us to develop
a business plan and compete in regional, national and international
competitions.  Our team developed Invasive Plant Control, Inc. and placed
2nd nationally and 2nd in the international competition.  This gave us the
knowledge and support needed to start the business.  Within one month of
graduation we had secured our first project at Cheekwood Botanical Gardens
in Nashville and have hit the ground running ever since. Since then we have
controlled hundreds of species on many sites throughout the US with a
fantastic team at IPC.  We have also been able to travel to Africa, Hawaii
and other places teaching courses pertaining to invasive species such as the
port of entry prevention course we hosted in east Africa.   My latest
training project is the annual Innovations in Invasive Species Conference we
host in December.  

While the past twenty years has certainly brought its struggles (as any
business owner will tell you), it has also been quite an adventure.  I would
say the most rewarding part of the past twenty years had been the people we
have met and built relationships with and seeing the invasive species
industry grow alongside us.  When we first started in 1997, we visited many
municipal, state and national parks.  There was rarely a time when the
managers we visited knew very much about invasive plants.  Those were the
days of slide shows containing the standard "what is an invasive plant"
slides.  Fast forward to 2018 and we have seen incredible changes and growth
in this industry.  My favorite example happened last month.  I have
16-year-old and 13-year-old daughters.  My 16-year-old was participating in
youth legislature this year in downtown Nashville with hundreds of bright
young students from across the state.  She actually decided to present a
bill that would increase the number of invasive plants deemed illegal to
sell in the state.  Twenty years ago, this bill wouldn't have made it to the
floor because no one knew what it was pertaining to.  In 2018 the bill
passed 152-2 with no debate.   Often, we ask ourselves if our efforts are
worthwhile.  This real example is proof to me that everything we do with the
Invasive Plant Councils is worth the effort.  We have successfully reached
the younger generation.  

Let's all keep up the good work.

 

 

Steven T. Manning

President

Invasive Plant Control, Inc.

 

e-mail:  steve at ipc-inc.org <mailto:steve at ipc-inc.org> 

web:  www.invasiveplantcontrol.com <http://www.invasiveplantcontrol.com> 

cell:  615-969-1309

office:  615-385-4319

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.maipc.org/pipermail/maipc-maipc.org/attachments/20180515/b2e20e68/attachment.html>