Pilot Projects to Test First National Rating System for Sustainable Landscapes

The Sustainable Sites Initiative™ announced a November 5 call for pilot projects that will test the first national rating system for sustainable landscapes. The Initiative is a partnership between the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA), the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center at The University of Texas at Austin and the United States Botanic Garden to create guidelines and performance benchmarks for sustainable landscapes, with or without buildings. The announcement took place at the ASLA Annual Meeting in Chicago.

The Initiative will accept applications starting November 5 and closing February 15, 2010, in conjunction with the release of the next report and new rating system, online at www.sustainablesites.org. Any type of designed landscape is eligible to participate, ranging from academic and corporate campuses, parks and recreation areas, transportation corridors to single residences so long as the total size exceeds 2,000 square feet. Fees for participating in the pilot project process may run between $500 to $5,000 depending on project size. Approximately 75 to 150 projects will take part in testing the rating system.

Until now, design and construction rating systems included little recognition for benefits of sustainable landscape and site design. Landscapes can clean water, reduce pollution and restore habitats, all while providing significant economic benefits to land owners and municipalities. The U.S. Green Building Council, a stakeholder in the Initiative, anticipates incorporating the Sustainable Sites guidelines and performance benchmarks into future iterations of its LEED® Green Building Rating System™. More information is available at www.sustainablesites.org.

2009 INASLA Annual Meeting and Design Awards Presentation Registration Information

2009 INASLA Annual Meeting and Design Awards Presentation

Friday, October 23, 2009
University Place Conference Center
850 W. Michigan Street
Indianapolis, IN

Treat the earth well. It was not given to you by your parents. I
t was loaned to you by your children."
Kenyan Proverb

Registration Form

Save $30 if you register before October 10!

7:30- 8:30 Registration and Participant Breakfast

8:00-8:30 Welcome comments

8:30- 10:00 Keynote Speaker

Kaid Benfield, Director- NRDC's Smarth Growth and Transportation Program
"Landscape architects have always been at the forefront of environmental responsibility. But what does this mean in the 21st century? Climate change is not only coming: it's here. And so is rapid population growth. Over half of the homes, shops, schools, and workplaces we will need in 20 years aren't built yet. We had better get it right. And we can."

Kaid Benfield is director of the smart growth program at the Natural
Resources Defense Council (NRDC) in Washington, D.C. He co-founded LEED for Neighborhood Development and the national coalition Smart Growth America. He is author or co-author of several books on sustainable development, including Solving Sprawl, Smart Growth In a Changing World,and Green Community, forthcoming from the American Planning Association.

Kaid is also one of the environmental community's leading online voices through his daily Switchboard blog. He is a graduate of Emory University and Georgetown University Law Center.

10:15-11:30 Concurrent Breakout Session #1

Allyson Pumphrey, City of Indianapolis Office of Sustainability
Indianapolis's Sustainable Infrastructure Initiative

Allyson Pumphrey from the City's Office of Sustainability will discuss the background & priorities of the Office of Sustainability. Specifically, she will highlight the Sustainable Infrastructure Initiative- a multi-faceted, multi-department approach to integrating green stormwater infrastructure into the overall solution for the City's water quantity/quality challenges by providing cost savings for the public side and incentives for the private side. She will also provide an update on current projects, recent accomplishments, and ongoing goals of the Office.

Alan Culwell, Attorney- Bingham, McHale LLP
Land Use Law and LEED for Neighborhood Development
Session description still to come! Stay tuned for additional information.

11:45-2:00 Lunch and INASLA Awards Presentation

Luncheon Speaker
Brian Dougherty, ASLA VP of Membership

2:15-3:30 Concurrent Breakout Session #2

Tom Barrett, Green Water Infrastructure, Inc.
Rainwater Harvesting and Condensate Recovery- New Tools for Sustainable Sites
Rainwater Harvesting and Condensate Recovery - New Tools for Sustainable Sites Capturing and using rainwater is enjoying revival as an alternate source of water to enhance the landscape. Up to 90% of the rain, which falls onto a site, can be captured, stored, and used to create a sustainable community.

Additionally, the water condensing from air conditioning units during thesummer months in hot humid areas can produce thousands of gallons of water each day. It is possible to combine rainwater harvesting and condensate recovery to irrigate the landscape. Join Tom Barrett as he explains how use of locally produced, non- potable water helps develop a "natural approach" to efficient use of water and relieves stormwater management issues.

Eric Ummel, Heartland Restoration

Installation Methods and key elements of design/ specifications of native prairies, pond edges and stream bank stabilization
Learn what makes a native prairie seed installation successful directly from the contractor. Eric Ummel, Director of Heartland Restoration Services, Inc. has been installing prairies for 10 years. He can answer your questions from what key elements to specify in your design, to what your client should expect through the first five years after installation. This presentation will focus on proper site preparation, installation techniques, and both short and long-term management needs.

3:45- 5:00 Concurrent Breakout Session #3
Dan Overby, AIA, LEED AP
LEED 2009 and Sustainable Sites Initiative Update
Earlier this year, the U.S. Green Building Council launched the latest version of the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System*. LEED Version 3 builds on the fundamental structure and familiarity of the existing rating system, but provides a new structure for making sure the rating system incorporates new technology and addresses the most urgent priorities like energy use and CO2 emissions. This session will provide an overview the updates and will also cover the status of the Sustainable Sites Initiative.

Representatives for Smock Fansler Corporation
Sustainability From the Contractor's Point of View
Session description still to come! Stay tuned for additional information.

A TOTAL OF 6 CEU's ARE AVAILABLE THROUGHOUT THE DAY!

ACE Mentoring Volunteer Opportunities Available!

Whether you are heading downtown for work, or play, light rail is making tracks this year at ACE mentoring. The light rail theme will help you and high school students learn more about a light rail coming your way.* Take the students on local field trips, talk with other professionals and bea leader respresenting the Landscape Architecture professional in the ACE Mentor Program of Indiana.

This is the first year for Landscape Architects in Indiana and we are proud to partner with a NationalMentoring Organization. The ACE program is a unique partnership among industry professionals, including landscape architects, construction managers, engineers and architects, who work together to attract young people to their professions. Please go to www.acementor.org to sign up for this years rail pass. Once on the web site, select the mentor tab on the top left of page and go to the application form. Submit the form and contact Eric Rolle to let so he can add you to the roster for schools. This will take you about 5 minutes. Plan to have fun! DO NOT do the Lexus Nexus Screening Background Check. The screening is done through IPS.

Erica Rolle is the ACE mentor Indiana coordinator contact:
erolle@newindianapolisairport.com
317-496-9125

To learn more about INASLA involvement, please contact:
Daryn Fair, ASLA, RLA
daryn.fair@gmail.com
317-578-4462

Thank you for your participation, we are looking forward to a great year!

The Environmental Habitat Steward Certificate Program

The Environmental Habitat Steward Certificate Program is designed for professionals including landscape architects, planners, architects, engineers, contractors, and developers. Participants will learn fundamental concepts in habitat management and current practices that can be used to preserve or enhance habitats. After this training, participants will be able to apply environmental principles to their traditional professional methods in creative and innovative ways based on the needs of particular project. CE credits are offered.

Please see www.indianawildlife.org/workshops.htm for more information."

This program is offered by the Indiana Wildlife Federation.

16th Annual INASLA Golf Outing

On Wednesday August 19 INASLA, along with the help of several sponsors, pulled off the 16th Annual INASLA Golf Outing. We had a wonderful day out at Prestwick Golf Course and the weather cooperated beautifully. Well at least it did after about an hour.

A special thanks should go out to Julie Zigler with Irrigation Design Source for pulling the entire event together. This was the first year Julie couldn't be with us on the actual day of the golf outing, but thank you to April Westcott (Irrigation Design Source) and Jhennifer Sanchez (Smock Fansler Corporation) for standing in for Julie and doing a wonderful job! Also thank you for keeping us all hydrated and well fed during the day.

Now on to the final standings for the day!
Congratulations to our big winners with an impressive score of 68!

ESL Team
Randy Belden, Eric Simons, Eric Carter & Nick Oskay

You should all give yourself a round of applause for a great game of golf!

Forms + Surfaces Team
Mike Shanley, Gary Carpenter, Mike Terry & David Klauba
(still impressive score of 69!)

Pine Hall Brick Team
Bernie Dahl, Ed Curtin, Bill Brown, Daryn Fair
(score of 70!)

Firestone Specialty Products Team
Bill Johnston, Dan Adler, Time Pancake, Deane Rundell
(score of 70!)


Smock Fansler Corporation Team
Tom Fansler, Dan Syrus, Cory Daly, Andrew Livingston
(score of 71!)


Irrigation Design Source Team
David Gorden, Lisa Dunaway, Katie Clark, Rachel Uthe
(score of 72!)


Landscape Forms Team
Josh Schmackers, Blake Herbst, Greg Wade, Pete Fritz
(score of 78!)


K-Rain Team
David Byers, Randy Royer, MJ Meneley, Ben Jennings
(score of 82, and incredibly well dressed)

Again a huge thank you to all of our sponsors for the day. Without you the event wouldn't have been nearly as much fun or successful!

Landscape Architecture Rising: ENR Article on Landscape Architecture!

Need to stop flooding or reduce stormwater runoff and sewer overflows? Looking to ease demand on treatment plants and avoid the cost of expansion? Seeking cleaner air or water? Interested in recharging an aquifer, rebuilding a shoreline or remediating a brownfield? Trying to stem highway pollution? Need to rebalance a watershed or ecosystem?

If so, a landscape architect may be in your future. The design professional—until recently derided as little more than a glorified gardener—is on a campaign to reclaim a seat at the environmental cleanup table. Some are even bent on sitting at the head, leading the engineers.

The movement is variously called performance-based, ecological, sustainable or green landscape architecture. Some use the terms “landscape infrastructure” or “landscape urbanism”. A rose by any name would smell as sweet, not only to landscape architects, long suffering from low self-esteem, but to localities seeking economical, less invasive and more beautiful ways to deal with the poisons of development. Read the whole story.

HUD, DOT, and EPA Form Partnership to Forward Sustainable Communities

Unprecedented partnership indicates a new activism regarding issues important to the landscape architecture profession. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Department of Transportation (DOT), and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have announced a new partnership to help American families in all communities—rural, suburban, and urban—gain better access to affordable housing, more transportation options, and a healthy environment. “This is an even stronger indication that the new administration and these agencies are serious about issues that are important to the landscape architecture profession,” said ASLA Executive Vice President and CEO Nancy Somerville. At a meeting of the Smart Growth Partners hosted by the EPA on June 17, Marcia Mulkey, acting associate administrator of the EPA’s Office of Policy, Economics, and Innovations, portrayed the partnership as evidence of the administration’s commitment “to active governing around the issues of smart growth and sustainability.” Earlier this year, HUD and DOT announced an unprecedented agreement to implement joint housing and transportation initiatives. With EPA joining the partnership, the three agencies will work together to ensure that these housing and transportation goals are met while simultaneously protecting the environment, promoting equitable development, and helping to address the challenges of climate change. DOT, HUD, and EPA have created a high-level interagency partnership to better coordinate federal transportation, environmental protection, and housing investments and to identify strategies that: provide more transportation choices promote equitable, affordable housing increase economic competitiveness support existing communities leverage federal investment enhance the unique characteristics of all communities by investing in healthy, safe, and walkable neighborhoods—rural, urban, or suburban Among the HUD/DOT/EPA partnership’s goals: enhance integrated planning and investment provide a vision for sustainable growth redefine housing affordability and make it transparent redevelop underused sites develop livability measures and tools align HUD, DOT, and EPA programs undertake joint research, data collection, and outreach Find a more detailed announcement online at http://www.dot.gov/affairs/2009/dot8009.htm.