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12-05-16 | Feature
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Iowa ASLA Chapter 
2016 has been a productive year for the Iowa Chapter of ASLA, with multiple opportunities for professionals, students and suppliers to learn, socialize, and celebrate efforts of the profession across the state. Despite snowy weather, a gathering of professionals and students attended the annual Winter Social in Bondurant in late January. This allowed students to present lessons learned from attendance at the 2015 National ASLA Conference in Chicago.
 Practitioners also took advantage of reaching out to state representatives in two advocacy events early in the year. The first was an event providing discussion between landscape architects and legislators at the Iowa Capitol Building. The second was part of a Design Day on the Hill where landscape architects participated alongside architects, planners and other affiliate professionals. April ushered in World Landscape Architecture Month when chapter members participated in the National ASLA social media event "This is LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE." Members also organized a public showing of the documentary celebrating the National Park Service Centennial, "10 Parks that Changed America." The Spring Conference was held at the end of April and was heralded by the Governor signing a proclamation declaring World Landscape Architecture Month.  One of the chapter's most popular annual events, the Iowa ASLA Golf Outing, was held at Copper Creek on June 10. This continues to be well attended and provides a great venue for practitioners and suppliers to let loose over a game of golf. The golf outing underscores how grateful the chapter is for the continued support of their sponsors. They have an incredible network of support and this is the main venue for thanking them for their generosity. Their 2016 Fall Conference, held at the Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge, was another popular event in 2017. The recipient of one of five ASLA medallions awarded to sites in Iowa, chapter members were able to volunteer gathering seeds and planting native plugs during the event. Landscape architecture students from Iowa State also presented opportunities afforded them by ISU and Iowa Chapter professionals. And finally, members were graced with a walk in the woods with three retired professionals representing landscape architectural private practice, public administration, and scholastic instruction. The lessons learned over their careers were invaluable and underscored the importance of sharing wisdom with current practitioners and emerging professionals.  They are rounding out the year with a number of interactions between practitioners and students. This started with the Fall Tailgate prior to the Iowa State/Kansas State football game on October 29. In an effort to cultivate a stronger presence with emerging professionals, the chapter will also be hosting students in firm crawls as well as participating in portfolio reviews in the month of November. Numerous chapter members will also participate in project year-end reviews at Iowa State in December. Though 2016 has been a banner year for the chapter, they are already looking forward to 2017 when the Iowa Chapter will host the Central States Conference in Des Moines on April 19-21.  Comment Form is loading comments...
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