President's Letter: August 2024

Dear MD ASLA Community, 

Thank you to everyone who voted for the 2024-2025 Executive Board! And thank you to all of you who rose to the occasion and volunteered for a position. Serving on the Board is a time commitment and is 100% pro-bono, but it is also very rewarding and a great way to contribute to the profession. I am happy to report that we have a great incoming group to lead the Chapter into the second half of the decade.  

While August is often the definition of the “dogdays” or the “lazy days” of summer, it is also a month of anticipation. Schools start back in a few weeks, those heirloom tomatoes you’ve been waiting for are finally ripening, the cooler days of fall are on the horizon. This month we are also anticipating a few big events in the next couple of months.  

First, What’s Out There Baltimore is being planned by The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF) in partnership with MD ASLA for September 21 – September 22. The weekend will highlight the local character and history of the landscape that makes Baltimore so unique. Twenty-four sites are available to tour over the course of the two days in the hopes of engaging the public in the promotion of their stewardship and interpretation. A reception to launch the weekend is planned for Friday evening, September 20, at the Center for Architecture & Design. More information about this is forthcoming. In the meantime, if you are interested in volunteering for the event, please contact claudia@tclf.,org for further details. 

Second, as you all are hopefully aware, the ASLA National Conference is being held in DC in October. This year is a little different as the dates are during the week, October 6 – October 9. If you are planning on going and have not already registered, advance rates end on August 26th. We are planning a MD ASLA happy hour at a local watering hole and will send information once everything is finalized. Rest assured it will be a fun evening! I am also pleased to announce that the Climate Action Plan Challenge submissions will be on display on the EXPO floor, as part of the Emerging Professionals Zone. If you are at the conference, please stop by to see the student work. 

And lastly, August is National Site Tour Month, where chapters can invite elected public officals to visit a local landscape architecture project. This is a great way to bring our work to the attention of the people who make policy decisions. Because of everything else in the pipeline, MD ASLA has decided to push this event to April as part of World Landscape Architecture Month, and we would love ideas from membership. The two requirements are that 1) the project is completed, and 2) that the project be in Maryland. The third recommended criterium is that it be a project that addresses extreme heat. If you have a suggestion for a relevant project, please email me at president@marylandasla.org. 

That’s it for now. Enjoy the remainder of summer! 

Many thanks, 

Sarah Trautvetter, ASLA

2024 MDASLA President