WHO: Participants include:

The Honorable Bob Taft - Governor of the State of Ohio

Mike Deeter, ASLA - President, Ohio Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects, Lima, Ohio

Julia M. Lent - Manager of State Government Affairs, American Society of Landscape Architects, Washington, D.C.

Jim Bassett, FASLA - President, Bassett Associates landscape architecture firm, Lima, Ohio

Claire Carpenter - Widow of Prof. Jot Carpenter, renowned landscape architecture professor, Ohio State University, and lifelong advocate for state licensure in Ohio

Kathy Fox, FASLA - Executive Director, Ohio Arts and Sports Facilities Commission, Columbus, Ohio

Keith Myers, ASLA - Principal, Myers Schmalenberger, MSI, Columbus, Ohio

Eric Sauer, ASLA - Past President, Ohio Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects, Lebanon, Ohio

Bill Wilcox - Executive Director, Board of Landscape Architecture Examiners, Columbus, Ohio

WHAT: Signing of the HB 214, passage of the 2002 Ohio State Licensure Act for Landscape Architecture into state law by the Governor. The governor will also sign a proclamation announcing the celebration of National Landscape Architecture Week in Ohio.

WHEN: Tuesday, April 23, 10:30 a.m.-12 noon

WHERE: Governor's Office, Ohio Statehouse, Broad Street at High Street, Columbus, Ohio

WHY: Today, Ohio joins 32 other states in fully protecting the safety, health, and welfare of its residents by enacting a landscape architecture licensure practice act.

A practice act is critical in protecting the public from unqualified or incompetent individuals that engage in professional practice, as there is a direct relationship between the practice of landscape architecture and public health, safety, and welfare. Landscape architects are trained to work on community master plans, site planning, highway design, pedestrian walkways, wetland construction and mitigation, park and trail systems, erosion control, historic preservation, stormwater management, plus brownfields and mine reclamation.

This legislation will ensure that only competent, trained professionals are performing landscape architecture work that impacts the public health, safety, and welfare.

CONTACT: Don Leary, Trustee, Ohio Chapter of ASLA. Phone: 419-874-8878
Fax: 419-874-1810. Email: don_landdesign@ameritech.net