I was channel surfing the other night and a show on the Discovery Channel caught my eye Apparently, on the Kodiak Islands of Alaska lives one of the world's largest concentration of Grizzly Bears. As one of the largest predators on dry land, these massive animals can weigh in at more than 2,000 Ibs. Yet through half the year these top of the chain behemoths lay dormant Always there, but never noticed Functioning, but making no impact. Somehow, in my sick, twisted mind, I connected those bears to the Landscape Architect. Sure, Landscape Architects work in the National Parks and Forests but that's too obvious . . . No ... This was a connection that brings forth Spring and a new beginning of growth. The bears hibernating through winter are like the Landscape Architects who didn't even have a name until about 100 years ago. There was so much open space nobody really noticed the need . . . everybody just noticed the abundant beauty surrounding them. When spring comes along the bears begin to stir. Probably the cubs first, then the adults shed their sleep and begin to emerge from their dens. The old bears have a good sense of where that first meal is coming from but the whole thing is new for the little ones. They do not plan their day . . . they just want a place to play. As cities began to grow, so did the demand for parks and fields and sites for recreation. Land was usually set aside just outside of town there would always be enough land . . . and slowly the citizens would make their additions to the site . . . The grandiose beauty of the place was for the most part a given. Of course, the world was still flat just a few hundred years ago. Today we are learning how finite the planet is. We are experiencing, for the first time, the building of a park not as a place to meet friends and enjoy the day because we want to, but instead, as a place to relieve the encroachment of development because we need to ... Now awake, the old bears are wiser, the young bears are stronger and the cubs are just now experiencing the joys and abundances of life. They rely on the leadership of their mother to guide them toward green pastures and protein rich sources of sustenance. They rely solely on her to be their protector, their 'leader, and their source for growth and direction. Their own father would eat them given the slightest opportunity and their brother would most assuredly fight to the death over the last fishing spot available. The Landscape Architectural Profession and the principals that flow from the profession are still in their infancy. They rely on their sole parent, the ASLA, to be their leader, their source of learning, their deliverer of abundance and their protector. The great parent developer would love to drop the expense of landscape planning and construction and does at every opportunity. The brother Architect sees the practice as a prime source of added protein . . . In the first few months of Spring the bears are thin emancipated from the months-long drain of energy they seek food wherever it exists. Eating berries, grasses, frogs . . . anything that will digest. . . But as summer comes along they all begin lining up for the salmon run . . . That tremendous time of bounty and feast where the biggest and best positioned bears throw back the calories and grow to mammoth proportions. Not all the bears succeed to overabundance, however, only those aggressive enough and strong enough to position themselves for maximum intake. In the first years of the profession, times were lean. Landscape Architects worked for their food and practiced their profession when they had the time and opportunity. As the need for the profession continues to grow, so will the profession. But, only the best positioned and most aggressive competitors will flourish. Now is the summer for Landscape Architects and the salmon are beginning to enter the stream. Are you in a position to become the dominant bear in the development stream? If not, there are a lot of bears lining up to eat your lunch. Strength and aggressiveness are the keys to success for the bears. Your strength grows as undeveloped land becomes more scarce . . . you need only to be aggressive to secure your spot on the river . . . So bear down and go get'em Tiger . . . Oh sorry, that was another channel . . . See you next month...EarthManX@aol.com