ASLA UTAH May 2022 NEWSLETTER

UPCOMING EVENTS

Victor Stanley, ACTIVATED + INCLUSIVE: Dynamic Mixed-use Environments, LA CES Credits: 1.0 PDH, Jun 28, 2022 | 12 PM MST
Speakers: Lisl Kotheimer, Associate, Landscape Architect & Jeffrey Pongonis, Principal, Landscape Architect @MKSK. REGISTER HERE

Early Bird Rates End July 31st ASLA Utah Annual Conference 2022
September 8th & 9th, Salt Lake City, Utah
REGISTER HERE

REMEMBER to VOTE!! ASLA UT Executive Committee Elections Open Positions: Pres. Elect, Secretary, VP of Marketing/Visibility, VP of Membership. Contact: Jake Powell, jake.powell@usu.edu

CALL FOR ENTRIES ASLA Utah Professional Awards Entries due 5:00 pm Friday, June 24. CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO

Leadership Express

Adam Castor, Chapter President

Hello everyone!

I hope that you all had an enjoyable holiday weekend despite the cool temperatures and rain that have moved in, and no doubt created some last-minute changes to somebody’s plans. For us, this time of year has typically meant traveling to a baseball tournament somewhere or a float down the Green River. This year, we’re in between the spring and summer seasons of high school baseball and we have been able to enjoy the long weekend at home and catch up with friends and family over dinner.

Without the distraction of the things that have typically taken place over Memorial Day weekend, I spent some time looking at and reading about memorial sites of all kinds across the country that included design by landscape architects. There are some amazing projects out there in honor of those that have served and those that made the ultimate sacrifice for our country. Here are a few photos of the memorials that I enjoyed learning more about:

National Veterans Memorial and Museum – Columbus, OH (Allied Works, OLIN, Ralph Appelbaum Associates)

World War I Memorial – Washington D.C. (Original design: M. Paul Friedberg, FASLA and Oehme, van Sweden. Recent design: GWWO Architects, David Rubin Land Collective)

Eunice Veterans Memorial – Eunice, NM (MRWM)

Layton Vietnam Memorial – Layton, UT

While I was at Architectural Nexus, I had the opportunity to work with JoEllen Grandy and Layton City on the Kenley Amphitheater and plaza renovation project, as well as the Vietnam Memorial Wall. Our scope of work did not include design for the site or the memorial, rather we provided construction drawings for the memorial and raised planters adjacent to the memorial wall. This project turned out to be a beautiful memorial for the veterans and their families of the Vietnam War.

Now that we have made it through all of the excitement of World Landscape Architecture Month, the executive- and sub-committees have turned attention to working out the final details of the annual conference and filling this year’s ballot with nominees for our open positions. If you are interested in volunteering a little bit of time and helping the ASLA Utah chapter advocate for the landscape architecture profession and our chapter members, please reach out and nominate yourself of someone you know that may be interested. It’s a great time to be a landscape architect and there are some great opportunities to become a part of ASLA.

ASLA National Happenings:

Government Affairs

Deadline Extended to Sunday, June 5: Federal & State Legislative Priorities Survey

Please help ASLA Government Affairs by participating in the biennial Federal & State Legislative Priorities Survey. We are encouraging all Chapters to meet one of the following goals: 1) chapter participation of 25%, or 2) a 25% chapter participation increase when compared to your chapter’s participation two years ago.

Help determine ASLA’s federal legislative agenda and state advocacy activities for 2023-2024. As the national voice for the landscape architecture profession, we want to hear from you on what you think are the most important policy issues. ASLA works with chapters, state and federal legislators, state and administration officials, and regulatory bodies to advance policies critical to the profession.

The purpose of this short survey is twofold:

1. To formulate ASLA’s federal legislative priorities for the 118th Congress.

2. To provide useful data to help guide chapters' state legislative priorities and advocacy efforts.

Two years ago, we broke all of our previous response records when close to 2,400 ASLA members took our priorities survey. This year, help us surpass 3,000 by not only taking this survey yourself, but by encouraging your friends, colleagues, chapter members, and all landscape architects to participate. Every voice matters, and we want to make sure as many people as possible are heard. Your ASLA Government Affairs team thanks you in advance for your responses! With your input, ASLA will continue to succeed in our mission to advocate for you and your profession.

State Government Affairs: As of May 18, 21 states remain in legislative session. ASLA staff is tracking 197 occupational licensing bills. The state government affairs team continues to work closely with chapters on legislative advocacy initiatives, including submitting public comments for the proposed rules for the implementation of the Illinois Title Act.

Throughout the spring, the Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Washington Chapters worked with their governors, legislatures, and mayors to declare April as Landscape Architecture Month and/or April 26 to be Frederick Law Olmsted Day. These proclamations help to educate the public on landscape architecture’s technical substance and public significance. They also serve as a reminder of the impact that design choices invariably have on community, opportunity, resilience, and equity.

The Alliance for Responsible Professional Licensing (ARPL) recently developed a new Fact Check Resource to set the record straight on the various myths and purported problems that anti-licensure individuals contend can only be solved by drastically weakening or outright eliminating licensing. ARPL also recently announced the results of a state-wide survey of Louisiana voters showing voters are deeply concerned about anti-licensing proposals being discussed in Baton Rouge during this legislative session. The results showed widespread public support for maintaining rigorous professional licensing standards for professions that have a clear impact on public health, safety, and welfare.

Over 50 applications were received for the Women of Color Licensure Advancement Program (WCLAP). In April, the WCLAP jury selected the 10 awardees, which will be publicly announced in the May 31st edition of LAND. The WCLAP aims to support women of color in their pursuit of landscape architecture licensure and increase racial and gender diversity within the profession.

Professional Practice

SKILL|ED Project Management for Landscape Architects June 21-23, 2022, 12:00-1:15 pm MST

Join ASLA National for a new course series focused on effective project management for landscape architecture professionals. As a project manager, you have a million things to keep track of at any given stage. Effective project management keeps you focused on each step of the way, from beginning to end. Through this course series, you will learn how to develop core project management plan components to bring you, your clients, and the project team into alignment on resources, milestones, and budget.

Speakers: Christine E. Pearson, ASLA – Director of Quality Management, Browning Day
Clarence Lacy – Project Director, RIOS
L. Irene Compadre, ASLA – Principal @ Arbolope Studio Lecturer @ the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts, Washington University in St. Louis, Lecturer @ Washington University in St. Louis
Michael Powell – Director of Marketing & Public Art, Arbolope Studio
All sessions will be available for on-demand after the live event for registered attendees!
As always, thanks to all of our sponsors and members for all that you do for the ASLA Utah Chapter. We look forward to seeing you all again soon!
Adam Castor, ASLA UT Chapter President

ASLA Committee Opportunity

Thomas Eddington, VP of Advocacy

We need your help. ASLA Utah is working with our partner entities to review the current Utah Division of Facilities Construction and Management (DFCM) fee structure that is used as a guide for project bidding. At issue is the fact that the current language in the bidding documents does not include landscape architecture in the Basic Services section:

Basic Services will vary from project to project. The following is an example of a typical project distribution as a percentage of the fee. The distribution will be determined on a project by project basis by the Prime Firm:

Architectural 60%
Mechanical 15%
Structural 12%
Electrical 10%
Civil 3%

We would like to form a sub-committee of landscape architects with experience or interest in state funded projects and work with AIA Utah and other partner entities to ensure landscape architects are included in the State’s bidding documents in the future.

If you are interested in joining this working sub-committee or have questions, please contact Thomas Eddington, thomas@inplandesign.com. Thanks!

Girls Night Out with Rain Bird

Jenny Sonntag, Executive Director

Cactus and Tropicals was the setting for the first ever Girls Night Out with Rain Bird! This original and fun event was an effort to help accomplish part of the DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) challenge given to each chapter from ASLA National. Diversity involves celebrating difference based on gender, race, sexual orientation, sexual identity, culture, or ethnicity. Equity is defined as fairness, and inclusion means "for all people."

Women are still a minority in the Landscape Architect profession and often there is only one female LA in an entire firm of architects. In an effort to help women in this profession network, bond and simply have a fun night out Rain Bird’s Tiffany Haveron crafted a unique event to gather female LA’s, learn about new hydration products, and then each attendee learned how to build their own small succulent container garden to take home. As you can see from the photos - it was a riot and we hope to schedule more fun interactive events like this in the future. Thank you Rain Bird for getting us together to learn, laugh and create!