MAY 2025 NEWSLETTER
ASLA UTAH MAY 2025 NEWSLETTER
UPCOMING EVENTS
LALAs (Female Landscape Architects) SKETCH CRAWL & ROOFTOP SOCIAL Tuesday, June 3rd 5:00pm SKETCH CRAWL: Meet at Liberty Park, North-West Corner (across from Beans & Brews) 6:00pm ROOFTOP SOCIAL: Fisher Brewing, 320 W 800 S, Salt Lake City
Terraine Site Visit Thursday, June 26th, 3:00pm Meet at The Shed at Terraine, 7188 W Hidden Hills Way, West Jordan REGISTER HERE
PlayCore Webinar hosted by Great Western Recreation Wednesday, June 11th, 12:00pm MST Strong Foundations: Planning, Purchasing, & Protecting Play and Recreational Surfacing Register Here and use code GAMETIME.
Victor Stanley Virtual Learning Wednesday, JUNE 25, 10:00am MST Landslide In Action: Invisible Histories Along the Mississippi River REGISTER HERE Credits: 1.25 PDH
LEADERSHIP EXPRESS
Lars Erickson, ASLA Utah President
Hello ASLA Utah!
Just off a great Memorial Day weekend. I hope you all had a great one. I spent time with my family in Yellowstone! What an amazing place. I’ve gone there over a dozen times and it never disappoints. This visit I did a few things differently and took a pre-dawn excursion that allowed me to see it in a totally different light. I encourage you all to do the same in any way you can. One of the best ways I’ve done this is by getting involved in the ASLA Chapter. Like my recent trip, it’s rewarding and refreshing…
At the Chapter, we’re keeping busy with a lot going on. I hope you’re ready to start kick-off summer, it goes fast so take advantage of the great weather now before it’s gone. Here is a quick list of upcoming events and information you should look in to and make this summer super cool!
CHAPTER PRESIDENTS COUNCIL – MAY 2025. Jesse Allen and I met with Chapter Presidents this month to coordinate, discuss and facilitate advocacy, membership and outreach items. A very interesting economic outlook for design and construction by the AIA Chief Economist was shared. I’ve shared a copy of the pdf here: Q-2 2025 Economic Outlook
CHAPTER LEADERSHIP ELECTION CALL FOR NOMINATIONS! Nominations for ASLA Utah Chapter Executive Committee Members are now open!
**Deadline to submit your nominations: Saturday, May 31st by 5:00pm. If you would like to nominate yourself or someone else, please send your name and desired position to President-Elect Jesse Allen, jallen@gsbsarchitects.com
NEW EMERGING PROFESSIONALS DESIGN COMPETITION!!! I encourage all emerging professionals to enter the inaugural ASLA Emerging Professionals Design Competition! Launched by the ASLA Associate Advisory Committee, this national competition invites early-career ASLA members to reimagine Harmony Circle in New Orleans around the theme “Beyond Boundaries.” It’s a unique opportunity to address real-world issues in open space design, climate, and social justice—while gaining recognition and building portfolios. Submissions due July 31, 2025. Learn more and share: www.asla.org/emergingprofessionalsdesigncompetition
Come on and get out there with us. We’d love to see and interact with you!!! - Lars Erickson, ASLA UT Chapter President
SITES WORKSHOP RECAP— (Re)Building Ecosystems through Ecological Conservation and Restoration: The Business Case for Sustainable Infrastructure in Utah
Nancy Monteith, ASLA, PLA, SITES AP
The US Green Building Council, in partnership with ASLA Utah and Salt Lake City's Sustainable Infrastructure Committee and Public Lands Department, hosted a workshop at the Utah ASLA offices on the Sustainable SITES framework. Administered by the U.S. Green Building Council, SITES is a rating system that guides, evaluates, and certifies a project’s sustainability in the planning, design, construction, and management of landscapes and other outdoor spaces. Over 70 professionals from the public and private sectors attended, providing the diverse expertise needed to discuss the opportunities and barriers to incorporating nature-based solutions into designed landscapes.
In 2023, Salt Lake City updated its Sustainable Infrastructure policy to require SITES certification for all parks, plazas, and other landscapes that have a construction budget greater than $2 million. Salt Lake City’s Glendale Regional Park, which is set to open in fall 2025, will be the first SITES-certified project in Utah.
Keynote speaker, Sarah Talkington, PE, LEED Fellow Sustainability & Resilience Consulting Engineer with the City of Austin Parks and Recreation
Austin, Texas, was the first city to adopt a SITES certification requirement. The city did so in order to proactively adapt to continued stressors, including severe drought, flooding, extreme heat, and rapid population growth. SITES is an evidence-based framework to guide site design that will reduce water use, mitigate the urban heat island, and improve environmental outcomes. The keynote speaker, Sarah Talkington, PE, LEED Fellow, and Sustainability & Resilience Consulting Engineer with the City of Austin Parks and Recreation, led interactive sessions to discuss barriers to implementation, explore the business case for SITES, and identify practical mechanisms for successful SITES implementation.
Will Howard, a PLA with the Stack Rock Group, presented on the HP Inc. Boise Campus, which converted high-water-use turf to a more regionally appropriate landscape. The design team brought HP stakeholders, biologists, rangeland ecologists, engineers, the BLM, and Idaho Fish & Game’s MK Nature Center together to redefine the campus landscape using native adaptive plants to increase biodiversity. The new landscape annually saves water equivalent to 33 Olympic-size swimming pools and has reduced site maintenance costs by 43%.
Jamie Fogle, PLA, with Design Workshop and I led a site tour though Pioneer Park. The Park will be one of the first historic park sites to be certified. Tree protection influenced the site design to minimize tree removal and maximize new tree planting. The site incorporated waterwise plantings and irrigation strategies. The establishment of a maintence plan at the onset of the project helped inform the design for the park. Parks operations, Events, and Urban Forestry have been key partners in the development of the plan.
Key workshop takeaways include the need to gather an integrated design team early in the design process and to design with maintenance in mind. Overall, SITES-certified projects save money, energy, water, and other resources and improve human and environmental health.
Who are you and where are you from? I am a sophomore student studying landscape architecture at Utah State University and am hoping to officially matriculate into the BLA program by the end of next spring semester. Being a student as well as working at a local plant nursery here in Logan, Utah keeps me busy, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. I grew up in a very small, rural town called Weston out in Idaho where I grew up working on a dairy farm and spending many of my days exploring outside.
Why are you interested in landscape architecture? I am interested in landscape architecture because it is a truly diverse field combining many elements such as creativity and environmental concern. I have always wanted to make some sort of positive impact on the world, and I know that by becoming a landscape architect I can do just that. I love studying this field knowing that I will one day be designing spaces that not only help communities but also help preserve natural ecosystems while promoting sustainability.
What is your favorite thing about LA studio? I would have to say my favorite thing about LA studio is being able to collaborate with others. The studio has pushed me out of my comfort zone and has given me a space to express my unique ideas. Solving solutions and working with a team to complete a project brings many different perspectives and ideas that I would not have thought of before. Everyone in the studio is coming together for a common goal where the energy that goes towards that is indescribable.
What LA project do you find inspiring? An LA project that I find inspiring is the Nature Discovery Park located in Hong Kong. It is inspirational to me in the fact that it is a living example of how to create habitats that support wildlife in urban areas. This project encompasses what I want to achieve as a future landscape architect by fostering a deep connection between both people and the land.
The Nature Discovery Park has shown how nature, sustainability, and urban areas can live harmoniously among one another and inspires me to help create greener, more sustainable cities worldwide.
What is your favorite hobby? My favorite hobby is backpacking. I have gone on many backpacking trips through different national parks over the years which has fostered my appreciation for conservation and nature. Backpacking has truly helped me in many ways and has grown my passion for the land as well as the wildlife that inhabits it. I also enjoy landscape photography and conveying the intricate details each unique landscape holds.
What do you find inspiring? There are many things that I find inspiring, but nature itself inspires me the most. Every landscape ranging from mountains to deserts holds a certain type of beauty. Nature provides a profound connection to the world around me that is ever changing and very diverse. “The Land Ethic” by Aldo Leopold is a book that I also derive a lot of inspiration from. The land ethics listed in his book are ones I live by in respecting my community and the land. Knowing that I hold an individual responsibility to preserve and respect both things collectively inspires me in my projects and future projects I hope to accomplish as a landscape architect.
**Deadline to submit your nominations: Saturday, May 31st by 5:00pm
If you would like to nominate yourself or someone else,
please send your name and desired position to President-Elect Jesse Allen, jallen@gsbsarchitects.com
Open Committee Positions
President Elect
VP of Professional Development
VP of Visibility & Public Affairs
VP of Membership & Membership Services
New members will be automatically entered into a drawing for a chance to win.
Second entry period: April 12, 2025 – October 12, 2025
Second Drawing: Held at the ASLA Awards Ceremony in October 2025
Additional Details:
You do not need to be present to win.
Winners will be selected at random by the ASLA Utah
To enter, visit ASLA Join Page or scan the QR code.
Special Thanks to ASLA Utah 2025 Sponsors & Corporate Partners for their Support!
Platinum Sponsors
BioGrass | Great Western Recreation | Rain Bird
Gold Sponsors
Belgard | Hunter/FX Luminaire | LuckyDog Recreation | MADRAX/Thomas Steele | Victor Stanley
Silver Sponsors Berliner | Chanshare Farms | Green Blue Urban | Landscape Forms | Maglin | Omega II Fence System | PlaySpace Designs | Progressive Plants | Raft River Sod | ROMEX | Sports West Construction | Utah Topsoil & Hauling Co. | Vortex Aquatic Structures
Bronze Sponsors
3Form | ABT Inc | Adobe Rock | Amiad | Basalte | Bermad | Black Butte Mining | CES&R | Daltile | GCP | GPH Irrigation | Garrett Parks & Play | Granite Seed | Hanover Architectural Product | Inman Interwest | Live Earth Products | Miller Companies | Mountainland Supply | Mountain West Precast | Musco | Netafim | Perennial Favorites | QCP | RepMasters | Sonntag Recreation | Stepstone Inc. | TORO | Tournesol | Utah Line Works | Wickcraft Boardwalks
Corporate Partners
Denton House | FenceTrac | G Brown Design