Pilot Projects Put SITES into Action

More than 150 pilot projects in all scales commit to applying the guidelines. The Sustainable Sites Initiative™ (SITES™) has selected pilot projects to test a national rating system for sustainable landscape design, construction, and maintenance.

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History & Culture, New Orleans’s Lower Ninth Ward Sustainable Infrastructure Project, and the Indianapolis Super Bowl Village join more than 150 other projects that include educational centers, transportation corridors, industrial complexes, and private residences in employing cutting-edge guidelines and performance benchmarks outlined in the SITES Rating System. Pilot project locations and descriptions can be found at www.sustainablesites.org/pilot.

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ASLA participated in a conference call on the Obama Administration’s response to the BP Gulf oil spill. The call featured Valerie Jarrett, Senior Domestic Policy Advisor to the President; Carol Browner, Director of the White House Office of Energy and Climate Change Policy; and Nancy Sutley Director of the White House Council on Environmental Quality. The abbreviated call highlighted recent Administration activities on the oil spill. Recently, ASLA wrote to former Senator Bob Graham, Hon. ASLA, who is co-chairing the president’s commission on the BP oil spill, to remind him of the expertise landscape architects can bring in mitigation efforts in the Gulf region. Government Affairs staff will continue to monitor federal developments in addressing this catastrophe and will continue to highlight the role of the profession in remediation and mitigation strategies that will be in high demand as this battered region begins to recover.

In coordination with ASLA’s letter to former Sen. Bob Graham, Hon. ASLA, applauding the efforts of President Obama’s commission on the BP oil spill to work quickly on a remediation and mitigation strategy for affected areas along the Gulf Coast, staff created a featured page on asla.org with an offer of support and links to where to donate time and money. Staff are working with Government Affairs to host an open forum on the spill at the annual meeting.