Chapter Chat

National Landscape Architecture Month (NLAM): With April quickly approaching, we’re sure you are all in the midst of your National Landscape Architecture Month planning. As with last year, the goal is for every chapter to host at least one public outreach activity during April. Please send PR Coordinator Erin Maguire your completed chapter activity form as soon as possible. If you're having any difficulty brainstorming an event, please visit the ASLA Landscape Architecture Month website for ideas. You can also find plenty of resources for promoting your event on the NLAM page as well as on the Chapter Operations Workbook.

Remember that April 9–15 is AIA's first "Architecture Week," so we encourage you to partner with your local AIA chapter so that you're leveraging media coverage of the design community. Swapping sponsorships and marketing/promotion is easy. A list of local AIA chapter staff contacts is attached and is organized by state. In some cases there will be more than one AIA chapter within your chapter’s area, so please include all of them.

Please contact PR Coordinator Erin Maguire at 202-216-2363 or at emaguire@asla.org if you need help planning your event or media outreach.

Media Spokespersons Needed! And speaking of media outreach, one of the primary functions of the ASLA PR team is to field incoming media calls and respond to requests for spokespersons for radio, TV, and print interviews. Many times these requests are based not only on a specific topic but also on geographic location. As a chapter leader, you are in a unique position to represent not only landscape architecture professionals in your area but ASLA as well. In order to accurately represent the topics to which you can speak, we’d like to ask each of you to fill out the form that was recently emailed to you indicating which specialty areas of landscape architecture you practice. If there is a particular area that you do not feel comfortable addressing, please take some time to consider who from your chapter would be a good spokesperson on that topic. The more complete your list is, the more coverage you will get for the profession and ASLA in your state!

Chapter Website Updating/Design Assistance: By popular request, ASLA has retained the services of a web designer to assist chapters in keeping their websites up to date. Mark Oviatt of Oviatt Media works frequently for ASLA national, recently updated the New York and Minnesota chapter websites, and is beginning work with the Arkansas chapter. He is available for web services at all scales, from simple updating of current sites on an hourly basis to complete redesigns, so now is the perfect time to get those contacts, award winners, and other chapter news updated before April. Contact him at 718-230-4970 or mark@oviattmedia.com.

Iowa ASLA

Iowa ASLA Winter Socials
Eastern Iowa Social
Texas Hold ‘em Tournament
February 20, 2007, 6:00–9:00 pm
The Edge Restaurant
807 1st Avenue
Coralville, Iowa
Please RSVP by February 15 to Seth Gray at sgray@bcadesign.com or 515-288-4875.

Central Iowa Social
Billiards Tournament
April 23, 2007, 6:00–9:00 pm
Raccoon River Brew Pub
10th Mulberry
Downtown Des Moines, Iowa
Please RSVP by April 16 to Seth Gray at sgray@bcadesign.com or 515-288-4875.

2007 Iowa ASLA Awards
The deadline for the 2007 Iowa ASLA awards is March 1, 2007. The Oklahoma chapter will jury the awards. For more information, click here.

Imagery for Iowa and Statewide LiDAR
The aerial photos from the Ortho Photo Server will soon be enhanced with statewide LiDAR digital topography data. (For info on LiDAR and the project, click here). LiDAR data collection began in northwest Iowa in December 2006 and is expected to take one year to complete. Once the data has been processed you can expect to acquire much like data from Ortho Photo Server.
The second phase of the project is to produce statewide high-resolution (two-foot or better) aerial photography that corresponds to the same time period of the LiDAR data. The Iowa Geographic Information Council is currently in the process of coordinating an effort to acquire imagery statewide and is working with state legislators to secure funding to collect this data. If you support this project, please contact your state representative and senator and ask them to fund the Imagery for Iowa program (aerial photo). For details please visit http://www.iowagic.org/. You may also contact IGIC State Board member Chris Seeger, ASLA, for additional information on LiDAR or the Imagery for Iowa program.

Maryland and Potomac ASLA

The Maryland and Potomac chapters teamed up again to give out their annual awards honoring local landscape architects for their projects.

Merit Awards:

-Piedmont Farm, Graham Landscape Architecture

-Howard Rawlings Conservatory and Botanic Gardens, Mahan Rykiel Associates

-West Shore Park, Hord, Coplan, Macht

-Heritage Trail Design Project, P.E.L.A. Design Inc.

-Woodrow Wilson Bridge Potomac River Waterfront Community Park, Mahan Rykiel Associates

-Marie Selby Botanical Gardens Children’s Garden, Oasis Design Group

-Brookland Multi-Modal Transportation and Streetscape Study, Michael Baker Jr. Inc.

-Montgomery College Amphitheater, Slater Associates Inc.

-Old South Baton Rouge—Neighborhood & Economic Revitalization Strategy, EDSA Inc.

Honor Awards:

-Woodland Park, EDAW Inc.

-Rutgers University Aesthetics & Environmental Design Guidelines & Standards, Ayers/Saint/Gross

-University of Maryland, Southwest Sector Plan, Mahan Rykiel Associates

-Four Mile Run Restoration Master Plan, Rhodeside & Harwell Inc.

President’s Award:

-North Charleston River Front Park, Burt Hill

Traveling Award for Innovative Excellence:

-National Museum of the American Indian, EDAW Inc.