Profile: ASLA St. Louis promotes the development, education and awareness of the landscape architecture profession in the greater St. Louis area - which is comprised of the eastern half of Missouri. By advocating for the profession through various activities, we support the professional integrity of our members.

 
As 2019 comes to a close, it has been a very productive and rewarding year for The St. Louis ASLA Chapter. New events, new programs, and new members continued to expand and diversify an already active chapter.

Spring was a busy time for the St. Louis Chapter. March found chapter Trustee Scott Emmelkamp, President Derek Don, President Elect Stacey Brochtrup, Vice President of Government Affairs / Advocacy Susan Maag and others from the chapter, advocating for the profession on a local level in Jefferson City, Missouri. St. Louis hosted the annual ASAL Central States conference on April 3-5 at the historic Chase Park Plaza Hotel. Central States is a six chapter, eight state, regional conference for landscape architects. The theme of this year's conference was "Connect: Past + Present + Future" which brought over 140 attendees and 50 exhibitors to the Central West End neighborhood of St. Louis for three days of camaraderie, learning, advancing the profession and to celebrate their best work. The conference was highlighted by keynote speakers David Rubin, of David Rubin Land Collective in Philadelphia and Gregory Miller, Past-President of ASLA. The conference offered several educational sessions with two of the most attended sessions being "ASLA Fellows Roundtable: Connecting the Past and Present to the Future" where President Derek Don moderated a panel of five Fellows of ASLA from the chapter along with a session "Strong Women Leadership in Landscape Architecture" in which Stacey Brochtrup, President-Elect moderated a panel of four leaders within the profession. The St. Louis Chapter had an amazing Planning Committee that led to a successful conference which allowed the chapter to allocated $10,000 to the newly created Emerging Professionals Scholarship Fund.

The Central States Conference culminated with the chapter's annual Design Awards Event, in which we recognized student award winning projects and 11 professional design awards. The chapter was pleased to be able to grant two Civic Stewardship Awards to St. Louis County Parks Foundation and the Great Streets Initiative by East-West Gateway Council of Governments. A few months before the event, the chapter lost a member who was instrumental in the development of many landscape architects over the course of a 43-year career. The Chapter was honored to present James Fetterman's family with the Lifetime of Practice Achievement Award. Jim's influence on the local practice cannot be overstated as he was the foundation for many generations of landscape architects. In May, Trustee Scott Emmelkamp and President Derek Don were in Washington DC for National Advocacy Day in which they met with Senators and Representatives from the State of Missouri.

After a busy spring, summer brought a brief reprieve to chapter events, allowing the executive committee to work on two important initiatives; reassessing the chapter's process for identifying/welcoming new and emerging professionals and the establishment of an emerging professional's scholarship. In July, the chapter had an axetraordinary time with during an axe throwing event hosted by one of our platinum sponsors, Anova. As the summer came to a close, the chapter held its annual ASLA/ASCE Golf Tournament at TopGolf and participated in Park(ing) Day; taking over the Central West End to promote urban open space by transforming parking spaces into temporary, creative spaces. In early November, the chapter hosted its second annual Quiztoberfest, a fundraising trivia night with proceeds benefiting Gateway Greening, a local non-profit organization dedicated to educating and empowering individuals through gardening and urban agriculture, as well as supporting the ASLA St Louis Chapters Emerging Professionals Scholarship. This unique event brought together over 125 landscape architects, students, clients, and citizens from around the city to raise money for important initiatives for each organization.Chapter leadership made its way out to San Diego for the Chapter Presidents Council and Board of Directors meetings prior to the Conference on Landscape Architecture. The chapter closed out the year with an event titled, "Making Sense of Licensure: A Pro-Active Approach" that included speakers from both local and national levels that focused on the importance of licensure of the profession and the on-going advocacy efforts that are needed. The purpose of the event was to demonstrate how licensure allows equal opportunity to practice with other professions as well as in local, regional, and national markets. The St. Louis chapter had an eventful and exciting 2019 and we look forward to 2020 with the leadership of President Stacey Brochtrup.

As seen in LASN magazine, December 2019.