Dear LASN: I, for one, am glad you took the time to do something constructive on your long flight back from D.C. You may think they are your opinions, but I suspect they are shared by many. Regardless, you stated them well and I would like to think all Landscape Architects have taken time to peruse your opinions as well as your Forecast ?EUR??,,????'??93 regarding the market and profession.

By the way, what is happening in San Antonio? ?EUR??,,????'??? Edward E. Werley, ASLA, Pittsburgh, PA

Thank you for your kind words. The Forecast Issue is always a little scary from an editorial point of view, but so far the response has been pretty positive. By the way, San Antonio is going to be a party you won?EUR??,,????'???t want to miss as LASN will celebrate it?EUR??,,????'???s tenth complete year of publication. More to follow...

The ?EUR??,,????'??Question of the Month?EUR??,,????'?? for the December ?EUR??,,????'??92 LASN was: What can the ASLA do to better serve its membership? Following is a sample of the response.

Dear LASN: Return 80% of dues to local chapters and sections directly and require reporting (for general membership scrutiny). Require minimum percentages to be used for: 1) continuing education; 2) P.R. (locally); 3) professional support based on size and percentage of firm type (i.e. 2 man/woman office = 30% of firm type = 30% of funding support. ?EUR??,,????'??? North Texas, MT

Dear LASN: Target more programs and funding at the section level. ?EUR??,,????'??? Tucson, AZ

Dear LASN: Break with the system. Get radical, promote political activism on local, national and global levels. To act responsibly to nature, we LA?EUR??,,????'???s know we (mankind) can?EUR??,,????'???t keep dominating and manipulating the systems forever. STOP NUKES, STOP CHEMICAL INTOXICATION, STOP ENERGY ABUSE, STOP RESOURCE RAPE. If LA?EUR??,,????'???s get educated, we can act together, begin to set examples and lead toward cooperation, not domination. ?EUR??,,????'??? Lucie Levine, Sonoma, CA

Dear LASN:

1. Lobby state legislature to pass LA registration for both title and practice laws.
2. Revive the L.A.N.D. studies newsletters.
3. Establish a clearing house for new graduates looking for work.
4. Hold the 1994 ASLA convention in New England. ?EUR??,,????'??? Portsmouth, NH

Dear LASN:

1. Power is in politics
2. Large numbers get listened to - especially in politics
3. ASLA must actively grow (pursue all landscape architects - not just private practice members, lower fees?) and actively participate in national political processes. ?EUR??,,????'??? Royal Oak, Ml

Dear LASN: I am not a member because I can?EUR??,,????'???t justify the annual dues. If they lowered the annual dues I would join. ?EUR??,,????'??? Spokane, WA

Dear LASN: Lower its dues. ?EUR??,,????'??? St. Louis, MO

Dear LASN: Offer more continuing education opportunities at the local chapter level. Promote landscape architecture at the local and national levels. Be a clearing house of information to the profession. Continue to provide an opportunity for interaction with peers. ?EUR??,,????'??? Minneapolis, MN

Dear LASN: ASLA could do 2 things to get my dollar:
1) Promote multi-professional approach to environmental design & conversation;
2) Expand public & professional awareness of the overview role LA?EUR??,,????'???s should be trained and experienced to provide. Broaden the scope of the LA profession. ?EUR??,,????'??? Manchester, NH

LANDSCAPEOLOGY?!?

Mr. Moluse is on solid ground in saying the majority of LA?EUR??,,????'???s make their living through some type of real estate development process. (See LASN 11/92 ?EUR??,,????'??Letters?EUR??,,????'?? Subtitle: A Little Extreme?) The definition of LA suggests it is the various bits and pieces of planning, civil engineering, architecture, art, design, horticulture, biology, ecology, botany, liberal arts (if you?EUR??,,????'???re lucky), etc., collected into a planning pit of self-annointed, yet unachieved environmental piousness.

Father Olmstead likened LA to the relationship an Architect bears to buildings. Profound sometimes. Sometimes insulting. The profession?EUR??,,????'???s eclecticism is its greatest strength, not its weakness. Moluse suggests that environmentalism is a danger to the profession. I wonder, rather if environmentalism isn?EUR??,,????'???t the single common thread that unites the profession? Pro-eclecticism offers LA a greater useful longevity, than does a narrower, mono-theoried, interest conflicted super organization as manifested in a troika of academia, central association, and licensure review boards.

The question is not whether design/build, gardening, or other facets of land design and construction are LA. The question is, is LA LA? LA offers value additives to the land design and construction industry. But, landscapeture does not add essential functions of public health, safety and welfare, that have not been and could not be just as well provided by civil engineering or architecture, had they schooled themselves in sociology, ecology, biology, and art in more than an elective way. In that sense LA is unnecessary, at best redundant. Value added, yes! Essential, no!

For those few LA practitioners guilt ridden after compromising people onto the natural landscape, there is therapy. Sending your association dues or equal amount to Greenpeace or other front-line environmental concern helps.

Rationalizing that a ?EUR??,,????'??less qualified?EUR??,,????'?? landscaper, gardener, design/builder, civil engineer, architect, or planner would do a worse job, sometimes works. However, employing landscapeology, ?EUR??,,????'??the bearing toward the land the relationship of physician to the infirm?EUR??,,????'???, chances to enlarge, perhaps supplant the profession as mediator along the human/environment precipice.

Landscapeology is no less eclectic than LA. Landscapeology is the brains, LAs are the ?EUR??,,????'??techs. Its credibility comes not from licensability, profitability, or popularity. Environmental activism and intervention, even in the extreme take the profession forward, beyond the numbers game of construction projects billed or trophied.

The traditional practice of LA is not shameful or sinful, it is a valid service among others, usually for hire. But to the extent that the profession tauts and sells itself using its environmental stewardship mantle, it should live up to it in practice. To the extent it does that, the profession betters itself in the eyes of its public, its clients, and in its self-esteem. ?EUR??,,????'??? R. Rand Knox, Landscapeology San Rafael, CA