You know, I have always liked the mission and especially the members of ASLA. These are landscape architects, suppliers and even students who are not only doing their own work, but are also doing the work of the profession by joining into the conversation and supporting the profession as it continues to grow.

That said, since mid-summer, LASN has been in the midst of its regular audit of licensed landscape architects across the nation. Although we still have a few months to go before our research is complete, it is obvious that since the recession began, more existing landscape architects have dropped their existing licenses than new landscape architects have earned new licenses. The net affect is at least a 15% drop, or somewhere around 3-4,000 fewer licensed landscape architects in 2013.

Granted, since 2009 the economy has been less than great and the construction industry has been especially hard hit. So it was always expected that as the industry shrunk, so would the profession and the number of licensees.

Now, I believe that quite a few of you have decided to hold off renewing your licenses until things come back around, and many of you working in offices with multiple licensees have picked and chosen who would keep which license, and in which state, to keep the firm compliant without overwhelming an already tenuous bottom line.

Not wanting to punish those who are already being punished by the economy, LASN has kept many ex-licensees in the circulation. In any event, it is our belief that as the economy regains its strength, the number of licensees will also rebound . . . Unless the ASLA decides to abandon the pursuit of licensure and reverts back to granting landscape architect status upon nonlicensed members.