Lloyd Center for the Environment awarded Garden Club of America Club Conservation Commendation

Aug 13, 2019

Upon recommendation of the Awards Committee of the Garden Club of Buzzards Bay, the Lloyd Center for the Environment has been awarded a Club Conservation Commendation from The Garden Club of America (GCA). This citation was awarded to the Lloyd Center for encouraging appreciation of the beauty of the coastal area, providing environmental education and inspiring future generations to manage and conserve natural resources.

The purpose of The Garden Club of America is to stimulate the knowledge and love of gardening, to share the advantages of association by means of educational meetings, conferences, correspondence, and publications, and to restore, improve, and protect the quality of the environment through educational programs and action in the fields of conservation and civic improvement.
Founded in 1913, The Garden Club of America is a volunteer, nonprofit 501(c)3 organization comprised of 200 member clubs and approximately 18,000 club members throughout the country.
A key priority of the GCA is to recognize both members and non-members whose accomplishments and efforts further the GCA mission. Through various philanthropies, the GCA encourages new talent and rewards achievements of mutual interest.

The non-profit Lloyd Center for the Environment has its headquarters and nature preserve overlooking the scenic Slocum River. It serves the South Coast area through its innovative educational and research programs addressing issues of coastal environmental quality. Attention is directed to an awareness of the area’s coastal resources and the importance of protecting them through science programs and interactive teaching in the public schools and on site. The Lloyd Center has a year-long program in elementary schools in Fall River, New Bedford and Dartmouth, reaching over 12,000 students. Over 100,000 students have benefitted since 2006. The Center has over 25,000 visitors annually and has over 30 years of monitoring threatened and endangered species.

Currently the Lloyd Center is in the process of building a new Welcome Center, a structure that will be Living Building ChallengeTM certified. It will be net neutral, collecting its own water and using composting toilets. No material that has a red-list chemical may be used. The central hand washing station will leach out into a sloping garden outside the facility. All water used must be able to be infiltrated into the soils on site.

The Living Building ChallengeTM (LBC 3.0) is a natural fit for the new Welcome Center at the Lloyd Center of the Environment. It is being built by students of the New Bedford Regional Vocational Technical High School with faculty guidance. The students, as future builders, have the opportunity to learn about green buildings first hand.