CTLA Seeks ASLA Member Input on The Guide for Plant Appraisal
The Council of Tree and Landscape Appraisers is completing the 10th edition of its comprehensive guide.

Existing vegetation on a project site can be either an amenity worth preserving or an impediment to a design vision. Landscape architects are frequently asked to make value judgments on existing plant materials as part of the design process. These decisions can be based on professional experience, the advice of consulting arborists, subjective personal criteria, or a host of other factors.

Plant materials can also be assessed as a component of real estate and assigned monetary value using the process outlined in The Guide for Plant Appraisal. This process, developed by the Council of Tree and Landscape Appraisers (CTLA), is meant to be a defensible basis for determining a plant’s value, and by extension, its value to your client’s property.

This capability has a number of implications for the profession of landscape architecture. It can be used for insurance purposes, to determine financial loss due to injury caused during construction, and to determine equivalent quantities for replacement of trees that are larger than standard nursery stock. It can also be used during the planning process to help decide which plant materials you may or may not want to preserve.

Tim Toland, ASLA, is currently serving as ASLA’s representative on CTLA, which is working to revise The Guide for Plant Appraisal for its 10th edition. Tolland is an assistant professor of landscape architecture at SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry. Toland succeeds Jim Urban, FASLA, in this volunteer position. CTLA is made up of representatives from ASLA, the International Society of Arboriculture, American Nursery and Landscape Association, American Society of Consulting Arborists, Association of Consulting Foresters, and National Arborist Association.

The upcoming edition of the Guide is meant to be more like a “textbook” than previous versions, with detailed explanations of the appraisal process and the concepts that support it. CTLA is asking for feedback from its professional organizations during the revision process. Are you familiar with this book and its contents? Have you used it in your work? Do you have ideas for improving its approaches or its relevance to your work? Please contact Tim Toland directly with your feedback so that he can convey it to the editorial board.

If you’d like to examine the book, you can buy or borrow a copy; you will not find the content of The Guide for Plant Appraisal online. If you have access to a university library with a landscape architecture collection, you will likely find it there. Otherwise, you can order a copy from the American Society of Consulting Arborists or the International Society of Arboriculture.