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Hampton Lenzini and Renwick Inc. are a multi-faceted environmental contracting firm that offers an array of services for Chicagoland municipalities. At Green Climber NA we have had the pleasure of working with their Environmental Service team. Kristin and Caitlyn, Environmental Scientists at HL&R have rented multiple models of the Green Climber remote-controlled slope mowers over the last four years.
“We maintain a variety of different types of terrains, prairies, wetlands, woodlands, grasslands. We use Green Climbers the most to mow prairies,” said Caitlyn. “Every year we have to decide whether we want to mow or burn the terrain, and as much as some customers would prefer burning, sometimes it does not fit their budget, or we do not get the right weather conditions to hold a prescribed burn.”
In these instances, HL&R turns to mowing unwanted vegetation, some of which is located on steep terrain. Standard equipment may be effective on flat terrain, but only Green Climbers can manage steep slopes effectively.
“The mowers that we currently own are a pull behind and a brush mower, both are not efficient on steep slopes," Kristin said. "In the past, we have instances where we got stuck or could not get ourselves up a slope to service certain areas. That’s when we started looking for other equipment to rent and the Green Climber was perfect for the terrain we manage. It can get jobs done in just a couple of hours”.
“The first time we rented it was back in 2017. We rented it consistently and now this is the first time in since 2020 that we’re using it again. The first site that we rented it for there was a lot of berms and really close to water,” Kristin said. “The Green Climber was able to perfectly scale the berms and get right along the water’s edge. It was able to handle the slopes better than any of our mowers ever did.”
Once HL&R started implementing the use of Green Climbers more frequently into their fleet of equipment, the company was able to fit the needs of more potential clients, and their capabilities to maintain dangerous terrain grew.
“Ever since we started renting the Green Climber, we were able to get a lot more projects. Now we’re able to maintain more places, which means we’re able to access more profits. Before we were not able to maintain certain areas because we did not have the right equipment. Now that we have the Green Climber, we can manage all these new areas that were impossible for us to maintain beforehand," said Kristin.
This month HLR sent out Kristin and Caitlyn to maintain a slope for Fox Valley Park District in Aurora. The Park District staff had previously tried to maintain the overgrown vegetation on a slope with little success using a tractor and pull behind mower.
“We have a large contract with Fox Valley, we maintain multiple locations of theirs. This is a new spot that’s not too far from the area we normally manage. Our customer told us that the slope was normally used by children as a sled hill, and they wanted to make it a nicer area,” said Caitlyn. “They had trouble maintaining the slope on their own so we were called in to help with the Green Climber.”
In a day’s work, Kristin and Caitlyn were able to clear the entire hill with little difficultly. They were able to use the machine’s extendable tracks to help with pressure distribution on the sides of the slope and used the moveable attachment head to their advantage when trying to avoid rocks.
“We would like to use it more often, every chance we get. It’s been a hundred percent what we need, could not ask for anything better. You just feel invincible using it,” said Caitlyn.
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