TARS Sees New Direction

The WCTA Travelling Annual Roadshow has been a successful regional educational delivery program for several years stopping at locations throughout British Columbia. It has always been a free service for WCTA and BCGSA members; other interested parties could attend only needing to cover their lunch.

TARS would not have been possible without the many gracious hosts over the years.  Typically, events were held at participating golf courses tied to regional golf superintendent meetings and often speakers were brought in with CEC point accreditation in mind. 

With strong BCGSA membership and organizational structure in all five regions of the province, the need for TARS to exist in its current form is far less than it once was.  BCGSA Chapters are at the level where they know what they want, when they want it and from whom - great examples include both the Vancouver Island and Lower Mainland regions both of which have made their own speaker arrangements for this year’s TARS dates.

Because the planning process for 2012 TARS has begun, the WCTA is committed to playing an active role in the series for this year and will support the golf hosted events by helping coordinate CEC credits and sign-in sheets, presenting  a verbal WCTA update during each chapter meeting, promoting the series to our membership and enlisting speakers if required.

We hope that by 2013, all BCGSA Chapters will be able to organize and deliver their own educational events while we engage and rely on our Directors to assist by providing representation and reporting at least one regional seminar per year.  The Executive Director will still attend many of the events but not to the degree or capacity as we’ve seen in the past.

Taking a more secondary role in the TARS will allow us to focus on education delivery programs for less developed sectors of WCTA membership along with initiatives like membership recruitment and major administrative projects that will allow the association to become more efficient. 

This change reflects how the two associations have evolved and signals a new era of collaboration on regional education delivery which is becoming increasingly important as facilities wish to reduce education and travel expenses.

  2012 TARS Schedule – Golf

Tues, May 15 Eaglecrest Golf Club, Qualicum Beach Host:  Brent Shanley.  Speaker: Joellen Lampman, Audubon Program CEC points:  1.5 IPM

Weds, May 30 Redwoods Golf Course, Langley Host:  Peter Szarka.  Speaker:  Ed Price, 'New Technologies in Granlur Fertilizer, Pesticides and Foliar Nutrients' CEC points:  0.5 IPM & 0.5 Application Technology

Weds, June 6 Prince George Golf and Curling Club Host:  Murray Kutyn.  Speaker:  Scott Morrison, 'Measure, Maintain and Monitor - The Tangible Results of Sustainability'  CEC points:  0.5 IPM

Tues, August 14 The Golf Course at Sun Peaks Resort Host:  Keith Lyall Speaker:  TBA CEC points:  TBA

Mon, August 20 Cranbrook Golf Club Host:  Kevin Schiefner Speaker: Scott Morrison,  'Measure, Maintain and Monitor - The Tangible Results of Sustainability'  CEC points:  0.5 IPM

 2012 TARS Schedule – Sportsfields

late August (exact date TBA) Blanchard Field, Victoria Host:  Ken Hilchey Speaker(s):  Ken Hilchey and Dr. Brian Holl  CEC points: TBA

Date TBA Nat Bailey Stadium Host:  Tom Archibald Speaker(s):  Tom Archibald and Dr. Brian Holl CEC points:  TBA