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Events
Visit the WASLA Event Calendar for more information on events.
In This Issue...
- President's Remarks
- Connecting Visions, Connecting People
- Seeking Short Internship Sponsors - Spring Break, March 16-20
- WASLA/NPS Touchet Valley Trail Charrette
- WASLA Membership Minutes
- Welcome New Members!
- WASLA Jobs
- Support Endowed Scholarships
Newsletter Editor
Coreen Schmidt
WASLA Board of Directors
President
Tim Slazinik, ASLA
Past President
Laura Thompson, ASLA
Trustee
Marieke Lacasse, ASLA
Treasurer
Dean Koonts, ASLA
Secretary
Maren McBride, ASLA
Member at Large
Rebecca Wahlstrom, ASLA
Member at Large, W. WA
Lucas Vannice, ASLA
Member at Large, E. WA
Steele Fitzloff, ASLA
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President's Remarks
Tim Slazinik
Happy November WASLA Members and Supporters! November is a busy month in ASLA world, with the National ASLA Conference on Landscape Architecture this week, as well as our Annual Awards Banquet just last week. We had such a great event at the Georgetown Ballroom last week. Congratulations to all of our Winners and to our attendees. We hope you had a wonderful evening, celebrating Landscape Architecture in Washington State! We have started to look ahead at next year, and I hope you will join me in welcoming our new officers that take their positions after the National Conference, as well thanking out outgoing officers for their incredible service to ASLA, WASLA, and the profession. We are an organization of volunteers, and we would not be able to do all the activities and programs we do without the time of amazing landscape architects.
Connecting Visions, Connecting People
The 2020 WASLA Annual Conference celebrates our connections. As a profession that unites disparate interests and opportunities to create an interconnected, sustainable, resilient world, Landscape Architecture serves as the hub of a vast network of place, people and passions. We impact the world around us every day through a mastery of balance and linkage that brings visions to life and supports the communities we work in. Ours is a unique ability to create unison between clients, allied professionals, the environment, and the public to deliver meaningful projects that make an impact on society.
The 2020 WASLA Conference is the opportunity to connect as a professional community in the state, and to celebrate our work in the world.
March 27, 2020
SeaTac Marriott
Conference and field session submissions due January 3, 2020 (no extensions).
Details coming soon!
Seeking Short Internship Sponsors – Spring Break, March 16-20
Are you within a day's driving distance of Pullman? Interested in providing WSU Landscape Architecture students with a glimpse into the workings of an office, a construction firm, a city department, a nursery, or a vendor?
The WSU LA Professional Advisory Board and Program seek sponsors for 3- to 5-day student internships this coming spring break, March 16 – 20, 2020. Help support this initiative to connect students with professionals and provide early insight into the profession.
Please contact Jolie Kaytes at [email protected] if you would like to sponsor an internship or have questions.
WASLA/NPS Touchet Valley Trail Charrette
Students, professionals and local residents gathered to collaborate on a schematic design for a “rail with trail” project between the towns of Dayton and Waitsburg in the Touchet Valley. From L-R (back row): Mark Lees, WSU LA student; Joann Poolman, Dayton resident; Jan Satterthwaite ASLA, Vireo Design Studio; Haley Bennett, WSU LA student; (front row) Tamara Fritze, Dayton Depot historian; Sidney Greenslate, UW LA student.
By Sidney Greenslate, UW Landscape Architecture Student
On a clear, windy Friday afternoon in southeast Washington, a group of landscape architecture students, professionals, state employees and community members gathered in the historic town hall in the town of Waitsburg. Lunching on fried chicken and macaroni salad, this diverse group were briefed on our task — to create a schematic design for a “rail with trail” project between the towns of Dayton and Waitsburg in the Touchet Valley, about an hour northeast of Walla Walla. Led by locals from the Port of Columbia and the Waitsburg Commerical Club, we piled into a school bus to tour the proposed route of a multi-use trail to follow the railway. We passed through agricultural fields, past a state park, along residential streets and up to the historic train depot in Dayton. There were choke points where the road, railway and proposed trail easement shouldered up close to each other, as well as two points where a pedestrian bridge were to be installed. It was a tall order, but our group was ready to get to work. Returning to Waitsburg, we split into groups and began work. Each group was a mix of WSU students (and myself, the solo UW student), landscape professionals, state employees and local residents. Between us all, we had a group with the skills and knowledge to hit the ground running, as you must during a charrette.
The magic of a charrette is that it reminds us of just how much work we can get done in a short amount of time in the right circumstances. There was a moment while I was drawing a simple vignette where a resident came over and exclaimed with delight how amazing it looked. Aside from the generous compliment, it reminded me that the skills we have as landscape designers and architects are indeed something special: the ability to visualize, to communicate an idea, to turn information into imagination. Without the generosity of the locals of Dayton and Waitsburg in sharing their knowledge and hopes with us, our concept would have only brought us halfway to something that feels real and possible.
As Saturday evening approached and we prepared to present out work to the community, I was nervous. Maybe they would hate all our proposals; they would consider our work to be too conceptual and out of touch with the character of their town. I worried that we would seem like we were barging in with our ideas to inflict on them. As we presented, however, I saw no immediate outrage, and as residents milled around each station to put dots on drawings, I was pleased to find that even those who were hesitant about the trail were asking questions and sharing their concerns with us. We also had farmers, retirees, and folks with families all express their support and enthusiasm about the project. Despite being exhausted from two intense days, part of me was ready to regroup with everyone and figure out how we could revise and improve our designs. The WSU students are planning to continue this project concept through the rest of the semester in their studio class, and I look forward to seeing their finished work in a few months.
WASLA Membership Minutes
Do you want another reason to join the ASLA? Continuing education.
If you are licensed, you know how expensive continuing education can be. ASLA offers myriad ways to learn, either at a conference, a class or online. Wondering where to find ways to get credits? The ASLA website provides a search page to find LA/CES courses all across the US. Online courses are offered as either live or recorded presentations with subjects ranging from Ecology and Restoration to Business Practices, LARE Prep, and Transportation/Complete Streets. Explore the full listing here: https://learn.asla.org/asla/. ASLA members get at least a 75% discount from non-member prices.
From providing conferences and classes, to offering online courses to members at a discount, ASLA is working hard to provide useful services to the Landscape Architecture community, all the while demonstrating that it makes financial sense to be an ASLA member.
Join us today: https://www.asla.org/Membership.aspx
Welcome New Members!
WASLA would like to welcome new member Farzana Rahman! If you are interested in becoming a WASLA member, please click here.
WASLA Jobs
Support Endowed Scholarships
Ken Struckmeyer Student Scholarship Endowment Fund
Kenichi Nakano Endowed Scholarship Fund for Landscape Architecture
See website for more images + stories.
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