As of this writing, more than 170,000 Los Angeles County residents are under evacuation orders and warnings. The Palisades fire, the first and largest of the multiple Santa Ana wind-fueled wildfires to break out across the region since January 7, has spread to nearly 24,000 acres—an area larger than Manhattan—and remains just over 20 percent [...]
As of January 2, 2025, the amendments to the Model Water Efficient Landscape Ordinance (MWELO) have been approved by the California Office of Administrative Law (OAL) and are effective upon filing with the Secretary of State and are in effect. The final *.pdf text of the MWELO regulations can be found online here, and related rule-making [...]
Since elected as Chapter President for the Southern California Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects, I have been very eager to get started on my year long term! Together, we continue to navigate through the overwhelming realization that humankind holds the responsibility for treating our planet better: both in terms of our physical [...]
Thank you for the privilege of serving as Trustee of the Southern California Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects. Returning from the 2024 Conference on Landscape Architecture in Washington, D.C. in mid-October, I had the honor of representing our chapter on the Board of Trustees (BOT). It was one of the best-attended conferences [...]
The 2024 jury consisted of Stacey Isaac, ASLA, Landscape Architect; Bob Borthwick, Emeritus ASLA formerly of Borthwick Guy Bettenhausen; David Dahlke, ASLA of Studio MLA; and Zinni Zhang, ASLA of Fiore Landscape Design BSLA Winners Gabriel Stein - BSLA Honor Award Daniel Lopez- BSLA Honor Award Naui Olin Tanatuh Munoz, BSLA Honor Award Victoria Bruno, [...]
On Saturday, April 27, the chapter's leadership held their spring face-to-face meeting at the Los Alamitos Historic Ranch and Gardens in Long Beach. While many of the business meetings are virtual throughout the year, at least twice per year the leaders are able to come together for team building, collaborating and bonding. Topics included [...]
Each year, the So. Calif. Chapter of ASLA hosts, by invitation only, a unique field trip where students from each of our chapter universities (Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Cal Poly Pomona, USC and UCLA) have an opportunity to meet their student board counterparts while enjoying various tours including landscape architectural office visits, educational tours, [...]
As we do every year, the chapter notifies the membership of the annual call for nominations. We seek candidates who are interested in the advancement and advocacy of the landscape architecture profession, are committed to their community, and are willing to share their talents and creativity to grow their leadership skills and professional network. If [...]
The Outdoors for All Act unanimously passed the U.S. House of Representatives as a part of the EXPLORE Act package. The American Society of Landscape Architects and its members successfully advocated for the measure and now urges the Senate to swiftly pass its version of the bill. The Outdoors for All Act seeks to address [...]
A rainy and cold 3 day event, LABash, the landscape architecture conference for students, by students, was held March 28-30 at the University of California Davis in Davis, CA. After more than a year of planning, a team of 10 student leaders led my Mark Peñaran, Student ASLA, and Olive Tang, Student ASLA, hosted a [...]
