Landscape Industry Groups Approve Merger

The newly-unified ALCA and PLCAA will have its primary headquarters in Herndon, Va. The ALCA moved its headquarters to the new building from a location just blocks away on Sept. 1.

The merger is now official. Members of the Associated Landscape Contractors of America (ALCA) and the Professional Lawn Care Association of America (PLCAA) have voted to unify the two organizations. The merger becomes effective on Jan. 1, 2005.

Members had until Sept. 3 to vote. Of those that did, more than 90 percent agreed to the change.

The merger has been in the works for several years, and will avoid duplication and make the new group more efficient, ALCA spokeswoman Vicki Bendure told landscapearchitect.com.

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The leadership of both organizations has been talking about the merger for several years. Creating one big lawn care organization will maximize the group's voice for lobbying efforts in Washington.

The name of the new group hasn't yet been determined. The unified organization will be based at 950 Herndon Parkway, Suite 450, Herndon, Va., 20170, with satellite offices at PLCAA headquarters in Marietta, Ga.

The new group will continue to push for guest worker reform to ease the lawn care industry's continuing labor shortage. The unified organization's name is scheduled to be announced in November.

The ALCA is the older organization, founded in 1961. The PLCAA was founded in 1979.

More information is at www.alca.org and www.plcaa.org.