letter from the president
Surroundings Studio accepts the 2016 Award of Excellence
Hello, members, and happy New Year. First off, we hope you all enjoyed yourselves at the gala in November. Congratulations to all of our chapter award winners. I met a couple members of the jury at the Chapter Presidents Council in New Orleans and they were very impressed with the quality of work. A list of all award winners is located on the Awards page here.
The new Executive Committee is in the process of engaging in some important chapter advocacy activities, and we've got some fun events we're planning for the year ahead. In addition, we are working on branching out to some of our allied professions to coordinate events with them.
NMASLA’s big advocacy push in 2017 and 2018 involves preparing for the sunset review, which is coming up in 2018. The last sunset review snuck up on us, and we want to make sure we get out in front of the next one. Expect to hear more about this in the coming year.
2017 is an odd-numbered year, which means in a couple months you will be receiving notices from NM Regulation and Licensing Department to report your continuing education. Now is a good time to count up your hours and make sure you've got your 30. If you've been to any NMASLA events from late 2015 through now, you can verify your hours for those on the LA CES website. We'll include a short summary of that process later in this newsletter.
If you need continuing education hours, there are a couple of upcoming opportunities. The Land and Water Summit 2017 is coming up on February 23 and 24. The conference has been uploaded to LA CES and is pending approval for 13 CEUs.
NMASLA will be holding our annual Q1 Multi-modal event in late April. We are planning to team up with the Complete Streets Leadership Team again and APA.
Sara Zahm accepts the 2016 Excellence in Sustainability Award.
We haven’t nailed down a date for Q2 yet, but we hope to sneak it in before reporting time. As you know, Q2 typically involves a review of projects outside of the Albuquerque area. We’ve got some very interesting ideas for this year’s event, but if you have a particularly compelling project you’d like to share with the membership, we’d love to hear about it!
We will be holding our annual golf tournament and vendor expo at Arroyo del Oso golf course in Albuquerque again this year in August. Always a good time.
Finally, we’re excited to wrap up the year with our Q4 event, titled Pollinators: From Back Yard Beekeeping to National Policy. We’ve decided to diverge from the topic of green infrastructure this year and focus on pollinators. I’m sure you’re all aware of the critical role pollinators play in food production, and that pollinator populations have been declining dramatically in recent years for a number of reasons. The scope of Q4 will range from designing for pollinators on a local scale on up to national policy designed to boost pollinator habitat. Maybe we’ll even bring it on back and see if we can squeeze in something about incorporating design for pollinators into green infrastructure. Wouldn’t that be cool?
We always appreciate feedback or ideas about topics, speakers, etc. for any of our quarterly events, so please don’t hesitate to contact me any time.
CSLT LEGISLATURE DAY
The New Mexico Complete Streets Leadership Team will have a table at Public Health Day at the Legislature on Wed., February 1st.
This event will be one of the main ways we can show our support of Complete Streets at this year's legislative session. NMASLA members are encouraged to volunteer for this event by manning the table throughout the day. Please email Amy at amy@groundworkstudionm.com if you are able to participate.
Thanks!
1st Quarter Member Anniversaries
Guy R. Johns, FASLA - 45 Years
Joan Woodward, FASLA - 25 Years
NMASLA POP UP PLAYGROUND 2016
On October 29, 2016, NMASLA and ACE Leadership High School hosted our second Pop Up Playground. This year’s event brought new sponsors and volunteers and on the day of the event, +/- 300 participants of all ages.
The Pop Up Playground is an event intended to inspire community engagement while giving all participants an opportunity to explore their own creativity through the provision of loose parts, tools and the ground on which to play with them. This year’s participants painted, hammered and taped to create a seascape, complete with a sailboat and palm tree; a pirate ship with a working helm and a plank; many forts with multiple stories; a working catapult; and much, much more. The majority of the materials used were donated and when possible, recycled at the end of the event.
The Pop Up Playground was initiated thanks to the mentorship of the founders of Pop Up Park Buffalo in New York. Conversations about how to expand and innovate Pop Up Playgrounds and similar events are continuing locally and across city and state lines.
Keep an eye out for the 2017 ACE + NMASLA PUP this October! And follow us on Facebook for more information on the benefits of free play, design and community engagement and other exciting developments. Just look for “Pop Up Play NM”!
View a video of the event here.
REPORTING CONTINUING PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION HOURS
It’s almost time to report Continuing Professional Education (CPE) hours to Regulation and Licensing for license renewal, which is due in June, 2017. As you may know, Landscape Architects in the state of New Mexico are required to earn 30 CPEs every two years, to be reported every odd-numbered year. Credits received from July 2015 through June 2017 are counted towards your 30 CPEs. You can read all about it on the New Mexico Regulation and Licensing department’s website here.
Besides your license number, you will also have to enter the registration code sent to you on your renewal form. If you do not receive this information by the time you are ready to renew, you may contact the Landscape Architects board directly at:
(505) 476-4930
(505) 476- 4645-Fax
landscape.architectsbd@state.nm.us
NMASLA strives to provide continuing education opportunities free of charge to ASLA members, and for a small fee to non-members, through the Landscape Architecture Continuing Education System (LA CES). In addition, we have worked with other groups, including the Xeriscape Council of New Mexico and Think Trees to get their annual conferences approved through LA CES.
The LA CES system makes is very easy to find and report your continuing education credits. Please read through the following process carefully.
- Go to the LA CES website.
- Scroll down to the lower left-hand side of the page, where you will see the “Download Your Course Record” field.
- NMASLA typically lists attendees by first and last name and email, so these fields are most likely to yield results for NMASLA CE events*. We don’t bother asking for ASLA, CLARB, or CSLA numbers anymore because most people don’t know them or confuse them with their license number. We’re also a relatively small chapter, so few, if any, people share the same name (we don’t have 30 John Smith’s).
- Enter your name and/or email and click “search.”
- This will generate a page of search results, listing all of the courses you have attended. At the bottom of the page is a “Download Search Results” button. Click it.
- This will generate a spread sheet with all of the events you’ve attended along with the number of CE hours earned per event. PLEASE NOTE: The spreadsheet will list events attended in years prior to the current reporting period. Pay attention to the dates and DO NOT TRY TO CLAIM CE CREDIT FOR EVENTS OCCURRING OUTSIDE OF THE REPORTING PERIOD AS INDICATED BY THE STATE.
This should provide you with all the information you need to complete your State CPE reporting form.
Hope this all helps with reporting!
*On a final side note, you may have noticed we always have you sign in and provide an email address at NMASLA events. This is to aid you in the reporting process by narrowing the parameters by which you search for your hours. That’s why we ask you to write legibly at the top of the sign in sheets. It’s also why it is a good idea to sign in the same way each time, with the same name and email (IE, don’t sign Robert at one event with your personal email and Bob at the next event with your work email.) Be consistent and write legibly.
UNM LAUNCHES ALBUQUERQUE LANDSCAPES WEBSITE
UNM’s Historic Preservation and Regionalism Program has launched a website on the history of local landscape design entitled Monte Vista Front Yards: http://www.arcgis.com/apps/MapJournal/index.html?appid=8b5efb2ef5e24b36869b20b03766d784
Produced by students at the School of Architecture and Planning, the website profiles the history of this university area neighborhood, and the broader story of landscape design in Albuquerque over the last 100 years. Its extensive catalogue of the forty-four most popular plants, with the decades of their popularity, will allow residents of the city and region to decode the layered history of their yards and neighborhoods.
Two undergraduate architecture students joined thirteen graduate students from Architecture, Art History, Community and Regional Planning, History, Landscape Architecture, and Preservation and Regionalism in researching and developing the website.
Recent Landscape Architecture graduate, Carly Piccarello, took the lead in seeing the website to completion, assisted by fellow student webmasters, Rebecca McCain and Servando Miranda, and course instructor, Professor Chris Wilson. The research of graduate history student, Angela Reiniche, is featured in sections on the growth and suburbanization of Albuquerque and the Monte Vista neighborhood.
For questions or additional information, contact: chwilson@unm.edu.
SITES AP EXAM launched
The SITES AP Exam has launched and is available at your nearest Prometric Location! All test takers in the beta period (first 200 test takers) will be able to take the exam one additional time if they don't pass. The SITES accredited professional provides landscape architects with the opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge, expertise and commitment to the profession. It also establishes a common framework to define the profession of sustainable landscape design and development.
Register for the exam. An ASLA prepared webinar series to help you study for the exam.
RFP for master planning of the rio grande trail
NM State Parks and the Rio Grande Trail Commission has issued an RFP for master planning of the Rio Grande Trail. The "Rio Grande Trail Commission" is created to establish the Rio Grande trail to run the length of the state from Colorado to Texas. The Rio Grande trail shall be a recreation trail for New Mexico residents and visitors to enjoy the natural beauty of New Mexico and the Rio Grande and learn about the culture and history of New Mexico. The trail shall be established in a manner that seeks to minimize environmental impacts and preserve sensitive habitat. The commission shall define and recommend viable path routes of the Rio Grande Trail, mitigate challenges related to its establishment and define and recommend other features, facilities and enhancements needed on the trail. The commission shall also make recommendations to the legislature as needed and report annually to the governor and the appropriate interim committees that deal with water and natural resources and rural and economic development.
You can find the RFP here.
Take the ASLA Membership Satisfaction Survey! Closes January 27th
Upcoming events
- Landscape Architect Registration Examination Preparatory Courses from Freeman & Jewell - Feb 10-12 and Feb 25-26
- 2017 Land and Water Summit - Feb 23-24
- Watercolor Classes with Karin Pitman, NMWS - Wednesdays, Feb 15-Mar 22
- Travel Sketching w/ Ink & Watercolor with Karin Pitman, NMWS - Saturdays, Feb 11-Mar 25
Visit our events page for more info.