The Edge January/February 2026

LETTER FROM THE CEO

Thoughts on 2025 and 2026, Advocating and

Something New AS THIS IS THE FIRST TIME YOU HEAR FROM ME IN 2026, I thought it would be a good time to quickly reflect on the past year before we dive into the current one.

munities. Whether you’re new to advocacy or a seasoned advocate, you’ll gain access to exclusive training, resources, and oppor tunities to connect with industry leaders and decision-makers. So, please give it some thought, and after you do, sign up to be an Ambassador for your industry. you. We will be transitioning our printed version of “The Edge” from six times a year to four times a year, starting with the upcoming spring issue. As we continue to create more and more digital content, it is time for us to give our fantastic content creator, Jill Odom, a small break from creat ing printed material. Jill creates over 300 pieces of content a year, which is pretty impressive when you think about the fact that there are around 250 work days in a year. At the end of the day, Jill will still produce amazing content for you, whether you see it in print or in a digital version. The only really sad thing is that you will only get four months of the year when this column can send you off to blissful sleep… TIME FOR A CHANGE One last thing to share with

REVIEWING 2025 So here are some things NALP got done in 2025. We successfully launched our Executive Educa tion program with the Darden School of Business, and the program received a five out of five stars for attendee satisfaction. We successfully transitioned our online training programs to make them available at no cost to our contractor membership, and saw nearly 850 new enrollments since the launch in April. Our PAC had a record year in fundraising, breaking the $200,000 mark for the first time. Finally, NALP’s state government relations team had 18 key victories in 12 different states on issues ranging from pes ticides, gas-to-electric and water management. WELCOMING 2026 What does 2026 have in store? A lot. NALP will focus on three pri mary areas over the next several years, with 2026 as the launch point. We will focus on the work force and provide our members with more resources to attract more talent into the industry. We will also devote much more time and attention to being a one-stop resource center for the

landscape industry. We want to be sure that if you are looking for it, you can find it through NALP. We are exploring the possibility of new training and event offerings, all designed to help you continue developing your team members and growing your business. Finally, we will be ramping up our advocacy efforts even further in both Washington, D.C. and the states, and a big part of that effort will involve you. ADVOCACY Let’s talk about advocacy for a minute. Based on our record last year, you have a pretty great government relations team that works very hard for you, but there is only so much they can do. We need more of you to get involved. The best people to advocate for this industry are the people in the industry. So let me take a moment to have you think about getting more involved in our industry’s advocacy efforts by becoming an Advocacy Ambas sador. The Ambassador initiative empowers you to build relation ships with policymakers, engage in grassroots efforts, and shape the legislation that matters most to your business and our com

Britt Wood

6 The Edge // January/February 2026