New Jersey ASLA Today

On April 20th, Interior Secretary Salazar announced nearly $58 million in grants to support conservation planning and acquisition of threatened and endangered species habitat in 27 states. Through these FY 2009 Cooperative Endangered Species Conservation Fund grants, $50.1 million was awarded through the HCP Land Acquisition and Recovery Land Acquisition (RLA) grant programs specifically for land acquisition projects that benefit endangered species habitat. Over $7.5 million in planning assistance was also awarded to 14 states to develop Habitat Conservation Plans.
Authorized by Section 6 of the Endangered Species Act, the competitive grants enable States to work with private landowners, conservation groups, and other agencies to initiate conservation planning efforts and acquire and protect habitat to support the conservation of threatened and endangered species (See announcement for 2010 applications information and deadline in this newsletter).

The Trust for Public Lands is a partner in the New Jersey project, as well as three others, nationwide.
Entitled Bog Turtle Recovery/Armstrong Bog (Sussex County, NJ) $500,000. The State of New Jersey proposes to acquire a 324 acre property known as Armstrong Bog to protect habitat for the federally-threatened, state-endangered Bog turtle (Clemmys muhlenbergii), state-threatened Wood turtle (Clemmys insculpta) and rare plant species Fraser’s St. John’s-wort (Triadenum fraseri). Armstrong Bog is one of the premier individual sites in northern New Jersey characterized as a calcareous fen wetland and is known to support a strong population of Bog turtles of multiple age classes.

A rare chunk of Sussex County known as Armstrong Bog, where the wildlife includes the threatened bog turtle, is the subject of a $500,000 federal preservation grant announced today.
The grant issued by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is part of $57.8 million being distributed in 27 states to support land acquisition and conservation planning for endangered species, Department of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced today.
Mel Evans/APU.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar in Atlantic City in April. Today, Salazar announced $57.8 million being distributed to states to acquire and conserve land, with $500,000 going to Sussex County's Armstrong Bog.
Armstrong Bog, in Frankford Township next to the Wallkill River National Wildlife Refuge, is a 324-acre calcareous fen -- a rare type of groundwater-fed wetland filled with tussocks, grass and sedge-type vegetation.
Found there along with the bog turtle, which is on New Jersey's endangered species list, is the state-protected wood turtle and a rare plant known as Fraser's Saint-John's-wort.
Many groups, including Frankford Township, the New Jersey Trust for Public Land and the Friends of the Wallkill River National Wildlife Refuge, have been trying to preserve Armstrong Bog for years. The $500,000 is only part of the amount they say is needed to buy the privately owned parcel, which could cost more than $2 million to preserve.
The New Jersey Natural Lands Trust, with the help of the Trust for Public Land, had submitted a grant application for the funding through the federal Cooperative Endangered Species Conservation Fund.
"It's great news," Anthony Cucchi, director of the public-land trust, said of the announcement. "But this is a very complicated project, and it's likely the entire parcel will have to be preserved through phases. Thankfully we have a landowner willing to work with us."
Although portions of the parcel are still farmed, preservationists contend it all should be protected.
"Armstrong Bog is a prime piece of rare habitat we've been working to preserve because it's important to species like the bog turtle," said Marie Springer of the Friends of the Wallkill group.
Other efforts are under way to add large tracts in the same region to the federal Wallkill Refuge, and while the state is leading the Armstrong Bog preservation effort, partnerships between state and federal agencies, as well as with private groups, are common in protection campaigns.
"The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will be pleased and happy to work with the state and other involved partners once the land is acquired to work together to manage the land," said Edward Henry, refuge manager. "These kinds of grants generally preclude federal ownership of the land, so our role will develop through a partnership of some kind.
"Partnerships are the key to success at Wallkill River National Wildlife Refuge, and Armstrong Bog is a prime example of this."

Upcoming Gallery Talks at The Museum of Modern Art (MOMA)

11 West 53 Street New York, NY 10019 (212) 708-9400 info@moma.org
With Jennifer Gray Saturday, July 11, 2009, 11:30 a.m.
In Situ: Architecture and Landscape
Standing Exhibit : April 8, 2009–January 18, 2010

In recent decades "landscape" has taken on an expanded definition in architecture. In the first half of the twentieth century, the architectural avant-garde celebrated autonomy from nature, and architects devised utopian schemes for creating urban realms ex novo, with little consideration for their surroundings. More recently, however, the challenges of a threatened environment and rapidly expanding cities have fostered a revised understanding of landscape. Harmony between the spatial, social, and environmental aspects of human life has become a priority in political thought, and this has had profound reverberations in both architecture and landscape design. "Landscape"—no longer understood merely as nature untouched—now encompasses complex interventions by architects and landscape architects in urban and rural surroundings. In Situ: Architecture and Landscape draws from the rich collection of The Museum of Modern Art to examine the diverse attitudes toward landscape over the last hundred years.
Organized by Andres Lepik, Curator, and Margot Weller, Curatorial Assistant, Department of Architecture and Design.
The exhibition is made possible by Lissoni Associati Milano.

DOT Secretary Ray LaHood, HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan and
EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson Announce

Interagency Partnership for Sustainable Communities
Partnership sets forth six ‘livability principles’ to coordinate policy

Washington, DC Tuesday, June 16, 2009 – U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood, U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Shaun Donovan, and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa P. Jackson today announced an interagency Partnership for Sustainable Communities to help improve access to affordable housing, more transportation options, and lower transportation costs while protecting the environment in communities nationwide.

Testifying together at a Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee hearing chaired by U.S. Senator Christopher J. Dodd, Secretary LaHood, Secretary Donovan and Administrator Jackson outlined the six guiding ‘livability principles’ they will use to coordinate federal transportation, environmental protection, and housing investments at their respective agencies.

Earlier this year, HUD and DOT announced an unprecedented agreement to implement joint housing and transportation initiatives. With EPA joining the partnership, the three agencies will work together to ensure that these housing and transportation goals are met while simultaneously protecting the environment, promoting equitable development, and helping to address the challenges of climate change.

DOT Secretary LaHood said,“Creating livable communities will result in improved quality of life for all Americans and create a more efficient and more accessible transportation network that serves the needs of individual communities. Fostering the concept of livability in transportation projects and programs will help America’s neighborhoods become safer, healthier and more vibrant.”

"As a result of our agencies’ work, I am pleased to join with my DOT and EPA colleagues to announce this statement of livability principles" said HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan. "These principles mean that we will all be working off the same playbook to formulate and implement policies and programs. For the first time, the Federal government will speak with one voice on housing, environmental and transportation policy."

“It’s important that the separate agencies working to improve livability in our neighborhoods are all pointed in the same direction. We’re leading the way towards communities that are cleaner, healthier, more affordable, and great destinations for businesses and jobs,” said EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson. “This partnership provides a framework to guide decisions that affect all communities. This way, investments of financial and human resources by any one of our agencies will meet shared goals and confront significant challenges we all face together.”

The Partnership for Sustainable Communities established six livability principles that will act as a foundation for interagency coordination:
1. Provide more transportation choices. Develop safe, reliable and economical transportation choices to decrease household transportation costs, reduce our nation’s dependence on foreign oil, improve air quality, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and promote public health.

2. Promote equitable, affordable housing. Expand location- and energy-efficient housing choices for people of all ages, incomes, races and ethnicities to increase mobility and lower the combined cost of housing and transportation.

3. Enhance economic competitiveness. Improve economic competitiveness through reliable and timely access to employment centers, educational opportunities, services and other basic needs by workers as well as expanded business access to markets.

4. Support existing communities. Target federal funding toward existing communities – through such strategies as transit-oriented, mixed-use development and land recycling – to increase community revitalization, improve the efficiency of public works investments, and safeguard rural landscapes.
5. Coordinate policies and leverage investment. Align federal policies and funding to remove barriers to collaboration, leverage funding and increase the accountability and effectiveness of all levels of government to plan for future growth, including making smart energy choices such as locally generated renewable energy.

6. Value communities and neighborhoods. Enhance the unique characteristics of all communities by investing in healthy, safe and walkable neighborhoods – rural, urban or suburban.
The HUD/DOT/EPA partnership will:

Enhance integrated planning and investment. The partnership will seek to integrate housing, transportation, water infrastructure, and land use planning and investment. HUD, EPA and DOT propose to make planning grants available to metropolitan areas, and create mechanisms to ensure those plans are carried through to localities.

Provide a vision for sustainable growth. This effort will help communities set a vision for sustainable growth and apply federal transportation, water infrastructure, housing and other investments in an integrated approach that reduces the nation’s dependence on foreign oil, reduces greenhouse gas emissions, protects America’s air and water and improves quality of life. Coordinating planning efforts in housing, transportation, air quality and water -- including planning cycles, processes and geographic coverage -- will make more effective use of federal housing and transportation dollars.

Redefine housing affordability and make it transparent. The partnership will develop federal housing affordability measures that include housing and transportation costs and other expenses that are affected by location choices. Although transportation costs now approach or exceed housing costs for many working families, federal definitions of housing affordability do not recognize the strain of soaring transportation costs on homeowners and renters who live in areas isolated from work opportunities and transportation choices. The partnership will redefine affordability to reflect those costs, improve the consideration of the cost of utilities and provide consumers with enhanced information to help them make housing decisions.

Redevelop underutilized sites. The partnership will work to achieve critical environmental justice goals and other environmental goals by targeting development to locations that already have infrastructure and offer transportation choices. Environmental justice is a particular concern in areas where disinvestment and past industrial use caused pollution and a legacy of contaminated or abandoned sites. This partnership will help return such sites to productive use.
Develop livability measures and tools. The partnership will research, evaluate and recommend measures that indicate the livability of communities, neighborhoods and metropolitan areas. These measures could be adopted in subsequent integrated planning efforts to benchmark existing conditions, measure progress toward achieving community visions and increase accountability. HUD, DOT and EPA will help communities attain livability goals by developing and providing analytical tools to evaluate progress as well as state and local technical assistance programs to remove barriers to coordinated housing, transportation and environmental protection investments. The partnership will develop incentives to encourage communities to implement, use and publicize the measures.
Align HUD, DOT and EPA programs. HUD, DOT and EPA will work to assure that their programs maximize the benefits of their combined investments in our communities for livability, affordability, environmental excellence, and the promotion of green jobs of the future. HUD and DOT will work together to identify opportunities to better coordinate their programs and encourage location efficiency in housing and transportation choices. HUD, DOT and EPA will also share information and review processes to facilitate better-informed decisions and coordinate investments.
Undertake joint research, data collection and outreach. HUD, DOT and EPA will engage in joint research, data collection, and outreach efforts with stakeholders, to develop information platforms and analytic tools to track housing and transportation options and expenditures, establish standardized and efficient performance measures, and identify best practices.

When nature gets a second chance
Degraded landscapes can be returned to natural beauty and usefulness.
By Elisabeth Ginsburg Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor/ June 17, 2009

Professor Handel, Director of CURE, received honors for “Restoration ecology processes to advance natural landscape design”in Research and for “Brooklyn Bridge” in Planning and Analysis as ecologist for Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates in the 2009 ASLA Professional Awards Program and will be a featured speaker at
Opportunity, Diversity, Evolution - the NJASLA 2010 Annual Meeting, Jan. 24, 25, 26. NJASLA Today Editor

Rutgers University professor, Steven Handel, and his team of graduate students helped turn a former landfill in Kearny, N.J., into viable ecosystems and parks by planting trees and flowers where trash once stood. The Kearny experiment has led him and his team to restore sites ranging from a former Air Force base in southern California to an area in Paterson, N.J.
Courtesy Steven Handel

Nearly two decades ago, Steven Handel was asked to help breathe new life into a former landfill in Kearny, N.J. The barren tract – bounded by highways, salt marshes, and railroad yards – had been closed and covered for 20 years. But it was an ecological desert, supporting no birds or mammals and home to only two plant species, both of which were alien to northern New Jersey.

After studying the site, its history, and the native flora and fauna of the area, the Rutgers University professor and his team of graduate students began installing groups of native trees in hopes of creating a dynamic, healthy ecosystem on top of the old landfill. The addition of soil and smaller plants came later. As time passed, researchers studied the changes at the site. Among their observations: Fruiting trees and shrubs attracted birds, which then dispersed seeds over the area. The original plantings matured, and the number of species on the site increased. It had once again become a viable ecosystem.

The Kearny experiment led to an even larger project at the former Fresh Kills landfill in Staten Island, N.Y. It also launched Dr. Handel on a succession of far-flung restoration projects, which, in turn, advanced the young discipline of urban restoration ecology.

Now, it’s a discipline whose time has come, Handel says. As the world becomes more urbanized, people have become increasingly estranged from nature.
A majority of Earth’s population now live in metropolitan areas, many of which contain ecologically depleted tracts that can’t support the plants, wildlife, and insects that provide what Handel calls “environmental services” – cleaning air and water, pollinating crops, cooling overheated cities, preventing erosion, and improving the quality of human life. A renewed public awareness of environmental issues has caused many urban planners, scientists, and even city dwellers themselves to recognize the high cost of neglecting land stewardship.

This awareness has also provided Handel and his team with opportunities to restore sites ranging from a former Air Force base in southern California to the area surrounding picturesque Great Falls in Paterson, N.J. Handel is “one of the real pioneers of exploring the urban environment,” says Edward Toth, director of the New York City Parks and Recreation Department’s Greenbelt Native Plant Center. He adds that the urban ecologist is known for having “brought rigor and intuitive questioning” to his urban environmental work.

It’s only fitting, Handel believes, that the northeastern United States, the first American region to become urbanized, has become home to the Center for Urban Restoration Ecology (CURE), a joint venture between Rutgers and the Brooklyn Botanic Garden in New York. Handel, a professor of ecology, evolution, and natural resources at Rutgers, is also director of CURE. The nine-year-old organization describes itself as “the first scientific initiative in the US established specifically to advance the study and practice of ecological restoration on human-dominated lands.”

Although former landfills, such as those at Kearny and Fresh Kills, are dramatic examples of environmental degradation that have been transformed into new habitats, Handel says that the quest to improve the quality of human life through biodiversity should not be restricted to such manifestly “ugly places.”
Asphalt, he points out, is not the only surface that creates a boundary between people and the environment. “Mowed lawns surround most factories, schools, churches, and other buildings,” he says, “and they give nothing back to people or the environment.”

Even on a small scale, meadows and open wooded areas do much more than lawns to improve the quality of human life, he says. They are also cheaper to maintain, a concept that has special appeal in hard economic times. Every ecological restoration project, Handel says, begins with the question, “What parts of nature can be restored?” The answer often depends on how the land has been used.

Sometimes sites slated for ecological restoration can be returned to a habitat that resembles what was there originally. But that isn’t always possible.
The Fresh Kills landfill, for example, was originally a wetland. Because it had been filled in with millions of tons of garbage over the years, it couldn’t be returned to wetland status. The 4.6-square-mile tract could, however, be planted with species native to the surrounding area, creating habitats for various animals, birds, and insects, and creating a viable ecosystem. In time it will become a public park.

Fresh Kills is just one of many restoration sites that have become parks. The professor believes that intelligently designed parks – encompassing meadows, woodlands, and other natural areas – are essential for reuniting people with nature, restoring those important environmental “services,” and reducing the stresses of urban living. Other projects have provided Handel and his colleagues with opportunities to re-create the ecosystems that existed before human habitation. One of these was a 90-acre site near Long Island’s Great South Bay. The property, formerly home to commercial duck farms, was acquired by the county and designated as parkland. The restoration process included transforming a former duck pond into a freshwater habitat and a cornfield into a wildflower meadow. The park now provides wildlife habitats, resting places for migratory birds, and an oasis for Long Island residents. The project, says Handel, “gave us a chance to add back the natural heritage.”

Restoration ecology is spreading around the world. Handel worked with urban and landscape architect/planners Sasaki Associates of Watertown, Mass., to restore a site on the north side of Beijing in time for the 2008 Olympic Games. They consulted with Chinese plant experts and ecologists to create a wooded park to be used by residents after the Olympics. The work of the ecologists isn’t over when a piece of land has become a new habitat, though.
Because restored public lands are often maintained by employees of cash-strapped government agencies, postrestoration maintenance plans must be fairly simple and inexpensive. And regular monitoring of the greatest enemy of restoration ecology – invasive nonnative plants – is essential. That problem, says Handel, “is getting worse and worse every year.”

Invasive plants can be controlled partly by natural means, including the use of trees such as white pines to create a shady buffer zone that’s inhospitable to the invasives. Workers in parks and other naturalized spaces also have to be vigilant, identifying small clumps of nonnatives and destroying them promptly.
Other enemies of restored lands have two legs. The same people who benefit most from projects can also jeopardize them. Attractive parks are popular with local people, who may visit in large numbers. This overuse can jeopardize the ecosystems created when the parks were designed, especially if the designers didn’t give enough thought to the effective siting of paths or trails, parking lots, etc. (Thousands of pairs of walking feet compact the soil, destroy smaller plants, and more.)

If a park is insufficiently supervised, overuse and misuse can eventually make it uninviting to the population it was intended to serve.
It’s important to have appropriately placed and sized paths as well as proper signage, Handel says. Vulnerable native plants can also
be protected by dense, prickly shrub borders and even the occasional fence. In Handel’s view, restoration ecology begins and ends with education. Since its founding nine years ago, CURE has graduated 12 PhDs and educated at least a hundred undergraduates.

The professor lectures widely and also conducts one-day programs for the US Environmental Protection Agency and for public officials.
Ultimately, Handel hopes that his efforts will help cement the bond between people and the natural world and establish lasting environmental awareness. His goal is for stewardship of the land to be a part of citizenship.

1. Molly Schaffner | 06.17.09
Dr. Handel will be giving a talk next week on his research at Fresh Kills Landfill:
“Urban Ecology at Fresh Kills”
Thursday, June 25, 2009, 7:30-9pm @ The Staten Island Museum
75 Stuyvesant Place, a short walk from the St. George Ferry Terminal
For more information visit the Freshkills Park Blog: http://www.freshkillspark.wordpress.com

Climate Change Issues in New Jersey, at the 2010 Annual Meeting “Opportunity,
Diversity, Evolution” Jan. 24th thru 26th

This year, a special presentation will present the results of the NJASLA sponsorship of student research in climate change prepared in the Rutgers University 2009 Advanced Environmental Geomatics and Intermediate Landscape Architecture classes. Professors Richard Lathrop and David Tulloch will be discussing the results of this work, particularly focused on Cape May County. Dave is now “prepping his students in his blog “Spaces and Places” (http://epd372.blogspot.com/2009/07/fall-studio-sea-level-rise.html). I’ve excerpted that article, below, for your information and I encourage you to visit the Spaces and Places blogsite to follow the program as it develops and to enrich your own practice with the cutting edge info Dave regularly provides. NJASLA TODAY Editor

Posted by David Tulloch at Friday, July 03, 2009
Fall Studio: Sea Level Rise

When you think of Cape May, you probably think of old Victorians and great beaches, not a community at risk. This fall in studio, we will be changing our perspective a bit.

While I am still unprepared to reveal all of the final details, I wanted to share the basic outline of our fall studio project for Intermediate Landscape Architecture I (11:550:331). The entire semester will be spent exploring design interventions and implications of sea level rise and global warming in Cape May County, New Jersey with funding assistance form the New Jersey Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects.

The project will be building on the results of the Spring 2009 Advanced Environmental Geomatics class. CRSSA has already created some great research on the Vulnerability of New Jersey's Coastal Habitats to Sea Level Rise that will give you a sense for both the seriousness of the threat and the diversity of issues wrapped up in this seemingly simple problem. SEBS researchers and Rutgers alums are all looking into the problem.

Cape May County has become the high profile location of an ecological decline that is represented in the falling populations of the interconnected populations of red knots and horseshoe crabs. This got some national attention when PBS aired an entire episode looking at the problem, but has been the focus of research here at Rutgers and at the NJ DEP for some time. It is also a great spot for ecotourism, which would presumably decline quickly as the natural landscapes are degraded.

One of the clear challenges would be to start building an infrastructure now that will better support the future residents of Cape May County. What would high performance infrastructure guidelines tell us about where we should be looking? We aren't the first people to explore these topics, so we need to learn from past studies if we are going to accomplish something new.

The certain threat and the uncertain details make sea level rise, and the larger patterns of climate change, an interesting problem for designers. In the San Francisco Bay Area, concerns about sea level rise (as shown in their local paper) led to the Rising Tides Competition this summer. Hopefully we'll get to see some results this fall before we are too far along in our project. I strongly encourage our students to look back at the IFLA 2008 Student Competition, which gives some great ideas about both the imaginative and serious aspects of this as a design issue.

You should also take a little time to peruse both popular portrayals and serious discussions of climate change and sea level rise. Keep an eye on regular news accounts about the science. How are going to communicate the complexity of the issue? How are we, as a class and a team, going to resolve uncertainties? Do we need to educate the public or are they fairly aware? We'll be sifting through countless agency reports, like the recent EPA report on Adaptation Planning for the National Estuary Program, and trying to organize the things we learn from them. We are also going to start paying attention to more and more mundane things like maps of sidewalks. Keep your eyes (and browser) open for these and keep careful records of what you see.

If you can get out and explore, it would be great. But if you can only get to Trenton, that would work too. The New Jersey State Museum in Trenton also has an exhibit called Rising Tide: Climate Change & Sea Level Rise in New Jersey. But take some time to get to know Cape May County. Think about the landmarks and people. What is it known for? What is it like for tourists? But what is it like for year-round residents?

Finally, Places and Spaces will now be an active focused source with at least 3 tags for this project: cape may, JrStudio, sea level rise. Use them to keep up.

When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Turn to Professional Associations
Kim Douglas

When the economy is in a slump, most of us look for ways to reduce spending, ruthlessly slashing every expenditure that doesn’t deliver direct bottom-line benefit. But sometimes well-intended cost-cutting can fall victim to the law of unintended consequences.
Take professional organization membership, for example. You might think your annual dues, event fees and other association costs are fat that can be trimmed until the economy picks up. In fact, your association membership should be one of the last items cut from a tight budget because its value actually increases during tough times. Here’s why:

Association membership lends credibility
In challenging times, potential customers and clients will seek extra assurance that they are dealing with a competent and careful practitioner before committing to a project. Your membership signals to them your high professional standards and standing within a group of your peers.

Association membership gives visibility
Becoming an active member, attending events, serving on committees and task forces, and participating in special projects give you visibility not only within your profession but within the community as well. As you gain stature within the organization, you are more likely to be viewed as an expert in your field, with potential opportunity to shape policy as well as secure new business. Gail Barry, president and principal in Land Mark Design, Inc., noted that “reinforcing the importance of one’s profession is particularly important when work is slow. Being involved with my professional group, the Colorado Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects (CCASLA), means my voice can be heard and I can influence what is happening in a way that might help us all.”

Association membership opens doors
Networking is one of the most valuable benefits your professional association can provide. At meetings and events you can gain insights and learn about trends from talking with fellow members and become known to leaders in your profession. Effective networking can definitely increase marketability, Barry said. “My involvement with CCASLA and other organizations has provided me connections not only to people within my own profession but also to those in allied professions and the public. One never knows when the most casual contacts might result in a job possibility.”

Association membership builds careers
If your career is just getting off the ground, make joining a professional association a top priority. Many professional groups even have college chapters for undergraduates who want to get a jump start on their new careers. Association membership puts young professionals in front of many potential employers, and volunteering for activities within the group will develop and showcase your leadership abilities. Be sure to participate on national committees and work groups to expand your visibility beyond the local scene and gain exposure to different kinds of projects than may be available locally. And don’t forget to add your association membership and responsibilities to your résumé — employers value initiative and know your achievements in the group will reflect favorably on their business.

Association membership develops skills
Almost every professional and trade organization offers continuing education programs that will develop their members’ skills and enhance their marketability. Such programs can improve your technical know-how, help you become a better negotiator, learn leadership skills, develop marketing savvy and much more. If you have special expertise in one facet of your profession, you can also teach a course and become a recognized expert in that area. In short, a business downturn can be an excellent time to invest in your future.

Association membership cements relationships
Joining and participating in your professional organization puts you shoulder to shoulder with your profession’s leaders, both locally and nationally. “Serving on the[CCASLA] executive committee has given me the opportunity to guide and mold the future of our profession and to grow professionally through regular interaction with the leaders of our profession,” commented Dennis Brookie, a senior associate at Wenk Associates, Inc. “This in turn promotes my own and my firm’s marketability throughout our sphere of influence and among industry partners.”

Association membership provides exposure to new ideas and practices
Whether it’s casual conversation at a professional get-together or a formal presentation at a national meeting, your professional association is a virtual petri dish for innovative thinking. Your fellow members can be a rich source of ideas, information and even inspiration.
To sum up, if you want to rise to the top of your profession, you need your professional organization. Through that membership, you’ll become better at your work and better at your business. And because of the benefits your active participation provides, you may very well make more money — even in these tough times.

About Kim Douglas, ASLA Kim Douglas, ASLA, is president of the Colorado Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects (CCASLA) and a senior associate with studioINSITE, a landscape architecture and planning firm in Denver, Colorado. Her work over the last 10 years has focused on urban design, campus planning and design, medical campus design, and parks and trail planning projects throughout Colorado and the Midwest. Kim is a graduate of Iowa State University.


	Update on Licenses for LAs Community Development Tips Anti Doom and Gloom Gallery Talks at MOMA Fish & Wildlife Seeks Proposals for Endangered Species Nature Gets a Second Chance Rain Gardens Reign	Sussex's Armstrong Bog gets Federal Preservation Funds Low Impact Development Practices Partnership for Sustainable Communities Weeding Through Latin Names Turn to Professional Associations when it's tough Climate Change Issues in NJ





Volume 14 \| Issue 6 July 2009

Comments

Posted by David Tulloch at Friday, July 03, 2009 Fall Studio: Sea Level Rise

Posted by David Tulloch at Friday, July 03, 2009
Fall Studio: Sea Level Rise