October 2005

October 19, 2005

• Following a presentation from the World Resources Institute on the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) the Board of Trustees discussed how the profession and Society should respond. The Board also discussed disaster assistance and recovery, follow-up to the sustainable sites summit, and a district-based Congressional Fellows program.
  
  
• Work continues with the Gulf States chapters on disaster recovery initiatives. ASLA will be participating in a NationalBuildingMuseumforum on disaster recovery on November 14. ASLA is also working with Congressman Earl Blumenauer, Hon. ASLA (D-OR), the Regional Plan Association, and others on a forum and process for looking at disaster recovery issues, and the federal role in recovery, from a regional viewpoint.
  
  
• ASLA has become become a national sponsor of the ACE Mentor Program. The ACE Mentor Program has dozens of chapters across the country that mentor high school students to encourage them to enter the design and construction industry, providing a number of generous scholarships each year. More than 80 percent of ACE participants are minority students and approximately 50 percent are women.
  
  
• ASLA staff is attending three hearings to examine the effects of Hurricane Katrina and flood risks in general being held by the U.S. House Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment. The committee has jurisdiction over hurricane and flood damage reduction, navigation, and other water resources programs of the Army Corps of Engineers, including ecosystem restoration. More to come…
  
  
• ASLA is participating in The Infrastructure Security Partnership’s (TISP) Fourth Annual Congress on Infrastructure in the Built Environment in St. Augustine, FL. ASLA is a member of the TISP steering committee.
  
  
• The annual meeting has received coverage in ENR online, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Lawn & Landscape, Yahoo News, Smart Growth Online, St. John's Telegram (Newfoundland), Colorado Construction, Daily Town Talk (Alexandria, Louisiana), and Construction.
  
  
• Staff coordinated with Minnesota Public Radio to interview Charles Birnbaum, FASLA, this week.
  
  
• The 2006 professional and student awards call for entries was mailed to more than 28,000 members, nonmember landscape architects, and other prospects.
  
  
• The Fort Lauderdale meeting is the third largest meeting behind San Francisco in 1986 and Boston in 1999. The EXPO this year clocked in as the largest show in ASLA history with over 400 companies exhibiting and almost 700 booths.
  
  
• The 2005 Fellows Investiture also recorded the highest attendance in its history with 505 guests celebrating the induction of 41 new Fellows to the Council.
  
  
• At the Fellows annual business luncheon, the Class of Fellows raised over $60,000 in pledges for the Council of Fellows Scholarship endowment that was established in Salt Lake City. The scholarship is aimed at underprivileged and minority students pursuing studies in landscape architecture.