When Mainlanders think of Hawaii, they envision paradise found--glittering seas, expansive beaches, green hillsides, and cleansing afternoon showers.

No one signs up for that summer vacation or winter getaway thinking about the jobless rate -- 6% and even higher in the building trades -- or that state leaders like Governor Ben Cayetano are calling the down trend the state's "worst fiscal crisis ever." (One builder whose comments were aired February 4 by CBS' "Sunday Morning" news crew said he hasn't built a thing since housing rates dropped--over 20% in the last 6 months.)

Yet, Ray Cain, FASLA, Vice Chairman of Landscape Architecture at Belt Collins Hawaii Corporation, indicates that firms that have diversified or that have sought work in foreign markets are doing fine. Cain, who has just returned from project-related stay in Bogata, Columbia himself, confirmed what the distribution of Belt Collins' offices in Honolulu, Hong Kong, Guam, Australia, Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore indicates--that the corporation concentrates on foreign markets like the Pacific Rim. "Much of our work and the majority of our employees are in foreign countries right now, . . . but [the domestic market] will come back. I've been [in Hawaii] for three downcycles now. It will come back again . . . as it always has. You just have to figure out how to live through the down trends."

Having worked for 30 years in Hawaii, ASLA Fellow Cain said, "The landscape industry is so multi-faceted, especially in places like Hawaii where the environment is featured as such a major element, I can't imagine anyone not being able to get enough work." Belt Collins, for instance, which began as an engineering, planning, and landscape architectural firm, now also does surveying, environmental consulting, golf course architecture, golf course landscape design, theme park planning and design, and water features design, sometimes under different company names when the enterprise must prove itself as separate profit center. In addition, Cain says the corporation is expanding into additional foreign markets: "We have a good network in Asia now and are expanding our interests there and in the Carribbean and Latin America from our office in Orlando Florida."