Blogger Shereen Hughes
November 11, 2025
2017 Richmond L1 class Scotty Green Roof
Today, looking back, I can see how the Chesapeake Bay Landscape Professional (CBLP) program “Secret Sauce” approach has paid off in Richmond. I can trace the incremental changes to a new generation of certified CBLPs joining our community of practice, taking on leadership roles as stewards, educators and ambassadors, embracing the opportunities and benefits of conservation landscaping. I also see a connection to Scotty Guinn Dilworth, a certified CBLP who inspired me, CCLC, and all who admired, loved and worked with her to establish the Scotty Scholars scholarship fund after her passing in 2022.
This Fall, Turning a New Leaf comes to Richmond and CCLC returns our focus to fundraising for the Scotty Scholars Fund on Giving Tuesday. I am excited that Richmond partners and certified pros will be able to share their successes with conference attendees. Changes in Richmond over the last 10 years demonstrate the power of collective impact. The “Best of RVA” field day at Turning a New Leaf will visit several examples of traditional landscapes revitalized to become resilient, beautiful, and adaptively managed conservation landscapes and stormwater practices. Here in Richmond our vision is being realized for a vibrant and knowledgeable network of professionals who serve as stewards, educators, and ambassadors across the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
Implementing and adaptively managing conservation landscaping and green infrastructure practices using native plants was a shared goal for CBLP and Scotty Guinn Dilworth during my tenure as the lead Virginia CBLP Coordinator. I have slowed down in semi-retirement, but certified CBLPs and our partners have not! Now, I finally have the time to reflect and celebrate this “greening” of Richmond.
When I look back at the photo from that first Richmond training , I see connections among certified CBLPs that represent a new generation of professionals, leaders transforming the landscape in the Richmond area. I think we all understand the value of scholarships to pay it forward and support this effort. Thanks to the Scotty Scholars Fund, established in Scotty’s memory with donations from friends, family and colleagues, 18 scholarship recipients have earned a CBLP credential. I see clearly how Scotty’s work helped build workforce and career pathways in the Richmond area:
- Our program has grown from that first small group of 14 Level 1 trainees in 2017, to 35 attendees in Richmond in 2025.
- Richmond partners (James River Association, Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay, Richmond Parks and Rec, and Richmond Public Libraries) also funded and hosted three CBLP-Crews trainings in 2024-25 that trained nearly 50 people. Because of projects like the Greening Richmond Public Libraries program, we have great sites to visit during our classes.
- This year, JRA opened their new headquarters on the James River. The landscape there is maintained by a certified CBLP who started his business to meet the growing demands for conservation-focused landscape management.
- At the 2017 training, several professionals (including Scotty Guinn Dilworth) joined our class to share their projects and knowledge. Attendees saw successfully (and sometimes unsuccessfully) implemented and maintained BMPs at Stone Brewing, the green roof at VCU’s Pollack Building, the state capitol, and Bellemeade Park.
- That training left an impression on instructors from the J. Sargent Reynolds Community College (JSRCC) Agricultural Sciences and Horticulture/Landscape program, who added a sustainable design course, aligned with CBLP, and began churning out a new generation of sustainability-focused graduates.
- Some JSRCC graduates met Scotty at our 2019 training and were introduced to her work, her collaborative and passionate spirit, and her emphasis on maintenance. Attendees are a who’s who of CBLP certified pros, partners, and instructors, and many will be at Turning a New Leaf.
- Check out this Greening Greater Fulton project and the partners involved. Scroll down to the bottom and you’ll see a picture of the project team including Scotty’s friends and artists who partnered on the award-winning middle school rain sculpture and Groundworks RVA crews who also attended the Level 1 in 2019. You might even see that Wetlands Watch is one of the funders!
- Organizations like the Science Museum of Virginia, Maymont, and Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden have also contributed immeasurably, hosting training and generously sharing insight and experience with CBLP classes over the years.
From the start, CBLP aligned our programs and outreach to support Richmond partners from private sector businesses, nonprofits,, government agencies, professional associations, and other education and workforce development focused efforts. We used our “Secret Sauce” approach: asking people in Richmond what they needed from us to support their work, creating programs to address those needs and then inviting them to align with us to support and promote our program as training and event hosts, as instructors, for professional development, preferential hiring of CBLP certified pros, with scholarships, and programmatically, through aligned messaging.
Richmond training partners, 2019]
Let’s celebrate the success of our community of practice. Come to Richmond in December, see the work of Scotty and others who worked with her and followed in her footsteps, pay it forward by donating to the Scotty Scholars Fund. And share your stories! I could fill up an entire page of people and organizations who are doing amazing work in Richmond… maybe in my next blog.
Shereen Hughes is a certified CBLP, CCLC Board member, the former Assistant Director of Wetlands Watch, a Chesapeake Bay Landscape Professional (CBLP) Consortium partner, and former Virginia CBLP Coordinator. In 2025, Shereen turned over her leadership responsibilities to a new generation of leaders and coordinators and has stayed involved as an Ambassador for both Wetlands Watch and CBLP.
