Landscape Architect Articles

Utah ASLA Chapter12-04-17 | Feature

Utah ASLA Chapter

Shawn Seager, Director, Metropolitan Planning Organization, Mountainland Association of Governments, addressed attendees at the Utah Chapter's Annual Meeting, "Landscape Architecture: Making a Difference in the Nation's "Fastest Growing State.'"

Representatives from the Utah ASLA Chapter attended the National ASLA Board of Trustees meeting in Washington, D.C., this spring. After analyzing the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats for the profession, chapter trustee David Harris was impressed by the strength of the profession, but acknowledged the need to increase membership and participation.

Among the strengths recognized at the trustee meeting were the profession's collective creativity for problem-solving, federal government advocacy, and environmental stewardship. Weaknesses included limited participation in advocacy, lower membership numbers, and encroachment of services from allied professions.

Don Leslie, past president of the Utah ASLA Chapter, welcomed Vaughn Rinner, FASLA, ASLA President, to the Utah Chapter ASLA Annual Meeting, where she delivered the luncheon keynote address.

Opportunities included global environmentalism, making the case for SITES, and developing programs to help landscape architects increase revenue. Finally, among the threats were competition from other professional organizations for dues and membership, a decline in the number of students enrolled in landscape architecture programs, and an economic downturn.

Harris encouraged members to volunteer and get more involved in their chapters to help grow the profession, making some of those weaknesses into strengths, opportunities into realities, and eliminating some of the threats.

As seen in LASN magazine, December 2017.