Bringing the Message Home

In addition to the traditional Lobby Day held each year in Washington, D.C., more than 115 people are set to meet with their legislators in their district offices on March 5. This new event serves to enhance ASLA’s advocacy efforts on several accounts, allowing landscape architects to influence public policy at the national level.

This In-District Lobby Day was conceived to expand the power of the traditional Lobby Day by eliminating the barriers of time and transportation posed by a Washington, D.C., event. By not being restricted to the Board of Trustees and chapter presidents, this new effort is expected to increase the number of meetings targeting key legislative districts. It should especially help states with a large number of representatives that have been able to reach only a small percentage of offices in the past.

In-District Lobby Day provides an additional organized opportunity to increase legislators' familiarity with the issues that matter to landscape architects and to build relationships with legislators more than once each year. Finally, for appropriations issues such as the Historic American Landscapes Survey (HALS), it is important to make requests early in the cycle. Traditional Lobby Day occurs too late to make an effective request for appropriations.

The following briefly summarizes the key messages ASLA will communicate on March 5:

• Funding for the Historic American Landscapes Survey (HALS)—ASLA is requesting $1.2 million in the Fiscal Year 2008 Interior Appropriations bill to fund HALS. The purpose of the program is to document historic landscapes in the United States through measured and interpretive drawings, written histories, and large photographs. The appropriation would support core staff as well as allow the program to provide technical assistance and small seed grants to local groups around the country.

• Small Community Visioning Pilot Initiative—ASLA has developed legislation to create a national pilot initiative to support small community visioning efforts. The community visioning process provides planning and design assistance to communities, helping them identify needs, set goals, envision designs, and develop conceptual plans to implement a shared vision for the future. The program is based upon well-developed programs currently managed primarily by land grant colleges and other entities with participation from private sector professionals. This approach would augment these programs and make resources available to provide similar services in other regions of the country. ASLA will ask members of Congress to support this legislation.

Julia Lent is ASLA's director of government affairs.