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The Land Has More to Tell Us (Part II)

June 9, 2025 by Jared Green

Tobacco plant (nicotiana rustica) / istockphoto.com, sorsillo

Indigenous knowledge is rooted in land but also expansive, explained Alice Nash, associate professor of history at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and a co-organizer of a recent symposium on Indigenous landscapes at Dumbarton Oaks. “The land tells us who we are, how to sustain ourselves, and envision the future.” Grounded in land and its history, we can “center ourselves” and then look to “regeneration and healing.”

The Indigenous worldview calls for an integrated approach — “all is related and connected.” In contrast, western academia is about putting ideas into specific categories. “How do we parse Indigenous knowledge out?,” asked Gabrielle Tayac, a historian and member of the Piscataway Nation, and the other co-organizer.

The symposium aimed to bring together Indigenous knowledge systems with academia, explained Thaisa Way, FASLA, director of the landscape and garden studies program at Dumbarton Oaks. This process enables Indigenous knowledge-keepers and scholars to “redesign connections” between these ways of understanding and “build community.” The symposium itself was also the result of that inclusive approach: it was developed with an Indigenous Advisory Circle comprised of Indigenous leaders and academics.

The people of the Blackfeet nation, who are now mostly found in Montana and Alberta, Canada, believe “there is a liminal space between land and myth, our world and the supernatural,” explained Rosalyn LaPier, who is a member of the Blackfeet Nation and Métis, and a professor at University of Illinois at Urbana. There is a sky realm made of the sun and moon; an in-between realm where people live; and an underwater realm, with beavers, deities, and monsters.

Ecological knowledge provides a way to connect with the divine. Blackfeet believe plants are deities from another realm, and there are spiritual relationships with specific plants. For example, tobacco is connected to the deities of the underwater realm. Cultivating and smoking tobacco is related to “supernatural power over water — bringing rain and helping plants to grow,” LaPier said.

There is a perception that Indigenous people foraged for foods. While that is true of some tribal communities, many Indigenous communities managed ecosystems, engaged in permaculture, and cultivated gardens. Among the Blackfeet, women played an important spiritual role in cultivating tobacco fields. LaPier described a field that was 100 yards long by 5 yards wide. Women kept tobacco seeds, burned plants and trees to collect ash to mix into soils, and designed the field so it had access to water and was shaded by trees.

There is a skyworld, and a storm caused skywoman to fall to the Earth. As she fell through, water fowl and geese rose up to slow her path and then a great turtle rose up from the watery world to hold her. Skywoman invited a muskrat to dive into the water and bring up more mud to expand the land. This is part of the creation story of the Pequot peoples of Connecticut and many other tribal communities. It’s why they call North and Central America Turtle Island, explained Nakai Clearwater Northrup, a member of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation and Narragansett Indian Tribe, director of education with the Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center in Connecticut, and founder of RezLife Outdoors.

“The turtle is a system for building relationships with the land,” Clearwater Northrup said. The connection between our world and turtles are wondrous: He explained that turtles’ shells have 13 pieces; there are 12-13 full moons per year. The outer edges of turtles’ shells have 28 notches, roughly corresponding to the number of days in a month.

The Mashantucket Pequot are known as the “people of the shallow waters.” Nearly half of the tribal community is 18-25, so Clearwater Northrup is focused on reconnecting Indigenous youth to their lakes, ponds, and rivers, traditional “food ways,” and culture. This involves teaching Indigenous youth to “eat foods from where they are from,” he said. Harvesting local foods from “isn’t the easiest — it requires long days, hot days — but putting in the work also connects us to land management and conservation.”

Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center, Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, Connecticut / Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center
Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center, Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, Connecticut / Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center

Melissa K. Nelson, a professor at Arizona State University, described how tribal communities across the U.S. are undoing the effects of settler colonialism in a holistic way through the concept of rematriation. This involves Indigenous women taking the lead in reclaiming Indigenous land, restoring ecosystems, bringing back Indigenous agricultural practices, and reconnecting with spiritual values and ancestral histories embedded in the land. She also discussed the Anishinaabe and Cree tribal worldviews of Turtle Island and Mino-bimaadaziiwin, which can be translated as “the good life.”

Her own heritage is part of this rich story. She is Anishinaabe, Cree, Métis, and Norwegian and a citizen of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa of Turtle Island, North Dakota. Land that was originally part of the reservation but homesteaded by the Nelson family was returned to her a few years ago. She plans on rematriating the land, which currently includes farmland, a creek, lake, and habitat for “berries, moose, beaver, and deer.”

Mikinaak Wajiw ~ ​Turtle Mountain, North Dakota​ / Melissa K. Nelson

She looks to examples of rematriation in Marin, California for inspiration. Mount Tamalpais, one of the sacred eyes of Turtle Island and a biodiversity hotspot, is being reclaimed as an Indigenous spiritual site. “The communities are restoring the right relations with the land and transferring dispossession into belonging,” she said. And she also looks to the Indian Valley Organic Farm and Garden, an inter-tribal farm where native foods like red and white corn, squash, beans, sage, tomatoes, and peppers are grown. “They are in service to First Peoples there.”

Mount Tamalpais, California / Melissa K. Nelson

Indigenous place-based knowledge, which is rich with community and ecological connections, can also take digital form, explained Christopher Pexa, member of the Spirit Lake Dakota Tribe, and an associate professor at Harvard University. He is collaborating with the Oceti Sakowin — which means the Seven Council Fires, a collective term for the Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota peoples — on a digital archive of storytelling.

He explained how he and tribal communities are transforming the “exploitative apparatus” of digital media, with its focus on monetizing relationships, into a place for Indigenous sovereignty and digital territory.

The goal is to replicate an Indigenous sense of time and space online. The collaborative team is developing a website that features the “slowness of elders;” focuses on relations, not users; allows only a single playback of video (no re-winding); and allows visitors to spend time “without an agenda.” This cyberspace is about “slowness and attentiveness.”

Filed Under: Education

The Land Has More to Tell Us (Part I)

June 2, 2025 by Jared Green

Turtle Island and Abya Yala / Scripps College

The Indigenous worldview calls for an integrated approach — “all is related and connected.” In contrast, western academia is about putting ideas into specific categories. “How do we parse it out?,” asked Gabrielle Tayac, a historian and member of the Piscataway Nation and co-organizer of a recent symposium on Indigenous landscapes at Dumbarton Oaks.

Alice Nash, the gathering’s other co-organizer, an associate professor of history at University of Massachusetts at Amherst, explained that Indigenous knowledge is rooted in land but also expansive. “The land tells us who we are, how to sustain ourselves, and envision the future.” Grounded in the land and its history, we can “center ourselves” and then look to “regeneration and healing.”

It’s important to bring together Indigenous knowledge systems and academia, explained Thaisa Way, FASLA, director of the landscape and garden studies program at Dumbarton Oaks, because it enables us to “redesign connections” between these ways of understanding and “build community.” The symposium itself was the result of that approach: it was developed with an Indigenous Advisory Circle comprised of Indigenous knowledge-keepers and academics.

Before starting the symposium, Tayac grounded the discussion in the land of Dumbarton Oaks. The land is Anacostan (Nacotchtank) tribal lands. It’s the highest point in Washington, D.C. — a “site for visioning.” It’s defined by its unique landforms, plants, and animals. The land holds ancient trees, including a poplar. “I gave it a greeting.”

Map of the Dumbarton Oaks Gardens, 1935. Ernest Clegg. Dumbarton Oaks House Collection, HC.P.1935.01.(I). / Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection.

Dunbarton Oaks is near the homeland of the Piscataway, which spanned parts of Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and D.C. The word Piscataway means “where the waters blend,” where life sources converge.

The names of territories matter. Emil’ Keme, a member of K’iche’ Maya Nation, and a professor at Emory University, explained how place names can either reflect Indigenous or colonial worldviews.

He has researched the Guna people, who have inhabited Panama for thousands of years. They now largely govern themselves in the Guna Yala region, which makes up the northeast coast of Panama and hundreds of small islands.

They call the Americas Abya Yala, a term more Indigenous groups across Central and South America are now using instead of Latin America or the Americas. Abya Yala better conveys the historical integration of northern and southern communities, the centuries of cultural flow and migration in both directions.

“More territory has been taken by maps than guns,” Kere said. Using the term Abya Yala, and a map showing its vast interconnection across continents, is then a way to “refuse to acknowledge colonial borders and reclaim our hemisphere,” Kere said. Breaking down colonial borders, at least through a shared worldview, can help create a new sense of solidarity among “communities facing transboundary struggles.”

Sandy Grande, who is Quechua, and a professor at the University of Connecticut, said Quechua people are guided by Sumaq Kawsay, an Indigenous worldview that brings together ideas about planetary connection, beauty, dignity, plentitude, balance, and harmony.

This worldview has been advanced by a political slogan: “Our people, our land, our people.” It conveys that land is the basis of Quechua culture, which is about reciprocal exchange. This reciprocity occurs in natural, social, and cosmological contexts.

Grande explained that in contrast American universities were developed as part of a colonial, extractive worldview and system. Her goal is to weave Indigenous values into the university, creating a “new approach not set in settler colonialism.” The University of Connecticut is exploring these ideas through a tribal educational initiative, which is resulting in more reciprocal relationships with Pequot and other tribal communities.

Preserving culture requires an intergenerational approach, explained Maria Montejo, a healer, member of the Mayan Popti’, Xajla Community of Guatemala, and program manager with the Dodem Kanonhsa’ Indigenous Education and Cultural Facility in Toronto, Canada. She reflected on her parents, elders, and spiritual leaders who helped her heal from intergenerational trauma and set her on a path of becoming a healer. And she emphasized that speaking Indigenous languages and practicing an Indigenous way of life is critical to maintaining culture and creating healing for current and future generations. “We have to practice our way of life — in life.”

Montejo took the symposium attendees through a spiritual journey, explaining her community’s understanding of how nature and people interconnect. She emphasized the holistic nature of these connections — the emotional, physical, and spiritual — and how a holistic approach to healing is then also required. “Integration is key to integrity.”

In her people’s worldview, the spirit of nature gives life to culture. “There is no utopia, but a balance of elements: air, water, fire, and earth. We are elemental beings.” Becoming self-aware means understanding how these elements affect our emotional, mental, and physical health. She has been piloting “We Are Elemental,” a K-12 educational program for Indigenous youth in Canada, which encourages connections to the land and self.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Go for the Win: Rosa Barba Casanovas International Landscape Architecture Prize

May 20, 2025 by Jared Green

Tangshan Quarry Park, Tangshan Mountain, China / Courtesy of Z+T Studio

The Rosa Barba Casanovas International Landscape Architecture Prize seeks to honor the “best and most innovative practices in landscape architecture.” The 2025 prize will be awarded to a landscape that was built between 2019 to 2024. The winner will take home €15,000 (US $15,879) and a signed lithograph by Spanish artist Perico Pastor.

All projects submitted for the prize will be published in the biennial’s book catalogue and featured in an exhibition in Barcelona, Spain, and a website. And 7-11 finalists will be invited by the prize jury to go to Barcelona and lecture at the biennial symposium, which will be held November 17-21, 2025.

This year’s prize jury includes:

  • Kate Orff, FASLA, PLA, founder, SCAPE
  • Bruno Marques, president of the International Federation of Landscape Architects (IFLA)
  • Michel Desvigne, principal director of Michel Desvigne Landscape Architects
  • Henry Crothers, founding director, Landlab
  • Laura Zampieri, co-founder, CZstudio

The organizers state that since the first biennial in 1999, the prize has been a “barometer” of “trends, social concerns,” and achievement in the field of landscape architecture.

Submit projects by May 30, 2025. The submission fee is €90 (US$95). Each landscape architecture firm can submit a maximum of five projects.

The 2023 prize went to Tangshan Quarry Park in Tangshan, China, designed by Z+T Studio.
The park transformed an abandoned limestone quarry into a “dynamic public space where citizens can experience the recovery process of flora and fauna.”

Tangshan Quarry Park, Tangshan Mountain, China / Z+T Studio

And the 2021 prize winner went to Brooklyn Bridge Park in Brooklyn, New York, designed by Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates.

ASLA 2018 Professional General Design Award of Excellence. Brooklyn Bridge Park: A Twenty Year Transformation. Brooklyn, NY. Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates / Elizabeth Fellicella

Explore all past winners.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Climate and Biodiversity News (May 2025)

May 15, 2025 by Jared Green

Waikiki area of Honolulu, Hawaii / istockphoto.com, Art Wager

This is the first edition of a new monthly feature in The Dirt, highlighting news on:

  • Landscape architecture projects that advance climate and biodiversity goals
  • Climate and biodiversity policies — from the global to local levels
  • Opportunities to take action
  • Developments among allied professions
  • Scientific studies

If you see a story of interest, please let us know at climate@asla.org.

Hawaii Lawmakers Raise Hotel Tax to Help the State Cope with Climate Change, CNN, May 3
Hawaii lawmakers passed legislation that adds a 0.75 percent tax on hotel rooms, timeshares, and other short-term accommodations, along with a 11 percent tax on cruise ship bills. The levy is expected to raise $100 million for environmental protection and climate resilience projects.

Illegal Wood from Colombia’s Rainforests Enters US and EU Supply Chains, Mongabay, May 6
The Environmental Investigation Agency found that 94 percent of flooring and decking wood exported by Colombia between 2020 and 2023 lacked certification. Approximately 20 percent of the wood was imported by the U.S., Canada, and European Union.

Before He Was Pope, Leo XIV Said It’s Time for Action on Climate Change, Earthbeat – National Catholic Reporter, May 9
“Dominion over nature — the task which God gave humanity — should not become ‘tyrannical.’ It must be a ‘relationship of reciprocity’ with the environment,” Pope Leo XIV said at a Vatican environmental event last year.

How Natural Solutions Can Help Islands Survive Sea Level Rise, Yale Environment 360, May 9
New research has found that the future of atoll islands depends on the health of their ecosystems and level of urbanization. To improve their ability to withstand sea level rise, scientists recommend nature-based solutions, such as restoring island forests and reefs.

How Redefining Just One Word Could Strip the Endangered Species Act’s Ability to Protect Vital Habitat, The Conservation, May 13
The Trump administration has proposed changes to the Endangered Species Act and is accepting public comments. They seek to update the definition of “harm” to species to exclude habitat destruction.

Germany on Track for 2030 Climate Goal, Future Targets at Risk, Government Advisers Say, Reuters, May 15
Germany’s Expert Council on Climate Issues expects the country to achieve its 2030 goal of cutting emissions by 65 percent from 1990 levels. Less clear is whether the European Union’s largest economy can meet its ambitious carbon-neutrality goals for 2045.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Landscape Architects Are Reimagining a 9-mile-long Tributary of the Los Angeles River

May 13, 2025 by Jared Green

Verdugo Wash, Glendale, California / Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates

After major floods devastated Glendale, California in the 1930s, much of the Verdugo Wash became a concrete channel — a boundary dividing communities. Now, landscape architecture firm Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates (MVVA) is leading the development of a new Verdugo Wash master plan, which will re-envision the 9.4-mile-long tributary of the Los Angeles River as a new linear park or trail system.

The three-year planning process will result in a toolkit of project options for the city to explore. The new plan will enable community connections to the wash and offer ways to restore its ecosystems, while preserving its ability to protect Glendale from floods. The effort is being funded by a California Department of Transportation grant.

“Bringing stormwater infrastructure, flood control, ecological restoration, urban connectivity, and park making together, the Verdugo Wash Master Plan is an incredible opportunity for the region,” said Paul Seck, PLA, partner and chief operating officer at MVVA.

MVVA has assembled a multidisciplinary team to “study the complex technical issues that would be associated with any changes to the wash,” said Ryoma Tominaga, PLA, project manager with MVVA. “We look forward to working with oversight agencies and local stakeholders, such as the Gabrielino/Tongva Nation, to craft feasible approaches.”

The diversity of the team MVVA assembled shows the complexity of the work. Landscape architects will be working with Kimley-Horn, Inter-Fluve, and Limnotech on hydrology and stream morphology; HR&A on market research, Dyson and Womack on public art; Gardiner & Theobald on cost estimates; and Chief Strategies on community engagement. And Schlaich Bergermann Partner will consult on walkways and bridges, Rock Design Associates on wildlife corridor planning, Rincon on biological resources, and Stratifyx on ecological design.

MVVA will start the ambitious planning effort by engaging the community, working with Chief Strategies to host a “range of community outreach events, such as workshops in different neighborhoods, site tours, and pop-up booths at city events,” the firm notes. This work builds on the Verdugo Wash visioning report from 2022, which was led by landscape architecture firm !melk and engineering firm BuroHappold.

The Verdugo Wash begins in the Crescenta Valley, passing between the Verdugo Mountains and the San Rafael Hills before joining with the Los Angeles River. Much of its natural elements have been replaced with a concrete flood control channel that ranges in width from 24 feet at its narrowest to 87 feet at its widest.

View of Verdugo Wash storm drain looking north between Glenoaks Blvd. and Royal Blvd., showing sections / U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Wikipedia, Public Domain

Through their planning process, MVVA and its team will explore the wash’s role in managing flooding, debris flows, and wildfires. “Although it is typically a low volume waterway, the wash provides an essential flood control function, managing high volumes during flash floods and debris flows,” Tominaga said. The new plan recommendations will need to “accommodate these extremes, while also identifying ways to expand public access and recreation and ecological improvements, including the potential for improved biodiversity.”

Verdugo Wash, Glendale, California / Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates

And “any projects recommended by the master plan will be phased in over time. It is possible the plan will identify some areas of the wash as unsuited for additional uses other than its current flood control function,” Tominaga said.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

More than Three-Fourths of Landscape Architecture Community Says Climate and Biodiversity Commitment Program Is Needed

May 7, 2025 by Jared Green

Climate Positive Design

Survey from the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) shows high demand for increased accountability

ASLA has released the results of a survey on landscape architects’ demand for a new Climate and Biodiversity Commitment Program. Over 230 landscape architects, designers, and landscape architecture educators responded to the survey in April 2025.

The survey found that 77 percent of respondents think a Climate and Biodiversity Commitment Program is needed for the landscape architecture community.

The architecture, engineering and construction industries have commitment programs, such as the AIA 2030 Commitment. These programs set clear climate goals, track project impacts, and issue public reports on progress.

“Real climate leadership listens first. Through the Climate Action Plan, we heard a clear call: our members want a meaningful way to commit and contribute to climate and biodiversity goals. ASLA is exploring how a potential commitment program could turn insight into impact,” said ASLA CEO Torey Carter-Conneen, Hon. ASLA.

“A commitment program will help build the credibility and relevance of landscape architects’ climate and biodiversity work among our peers in the architecture, engineering, and planning professions,” said Pamela Conrad, ASLA, inaugural ASLA Climate and Biodiversity Action Fellow and Founder, Climate Positive Design. “It will also help us better align with and advance industry standards on built environment data.”

A Climate and Biodiversity Commitment Program for landscape architects will help the community collectively:

  • Measure projects’ benefits and impacts
  • Increase accountability
  • Align with industry standards

A commitment program establishes goals that firms and organizations commit to. Firms typically submit project data, which is then validated, measured in aggregate, and then shared publicly in an annual report.

More than half of survey respondents said a commitment program would enable them to better show their commitment to clients with climate action plans. A majority said a program would support landscape architects’ alignment with other disciplines’ efforts. And a third thought a program would increase landscape architects’ competitive advantage.

Without a commitment program, a minority of landscape architects are consistently tracking their project benefits and impacts:

  • 36 percent are tracking water data
  • 22 percent are tracking biodiversity data
  • 21 percent are tracking carbon data
  • 16 percent are measuring heat reductions
  • 13 percent are measuring equity benefits

A minority of landscape architects are also now using tools to reduce project greenhouse gas emissions and increase carbon sequestration. 25 percent of survey respondents are using Climate Positive Design’s Pathfinder while 21 percent are using Sasaki’s Carbon Conscience.

Climate Positive Design’s Pathfinder / Climate Positive Design
Carbon Conscience / Sasaki

While the lack of a commitment program hinders efforts to measure project data using these tools, there are other obstacles identified by survey respondents:

  • Just 19 percent of respondents said they had the knowledge and resources to achieve the measurable goals of the ASLA Climate Action Plan. These include carbon and biodiversity improvements, water use reduction, canopy cover increases, and more.
  • Another third said they have the knowledge but lack the resources.
  • 16 percent said they don’t receive enough cooperation from clients, allied professions, and manufacturers to achieve the goals.
  • Only 23 percent of respondents have their own climate, sustainability or biodiversity action plan to guide progress; another 20 percent said a plan is in development.

But there is also significant progress. More than a third of respondents are now making investments of time and resources to meet ASLA Climate Action Plan goals. They are focusing on a few priorities: employee training and education and researching and specifying low-emission materials.

Ways to reduce project emissions via Carbon Conscience / Sasaki

A majority of respondents think the broad shift to more sustainable landscape architecture projects will impact how the profession designs projects and sources materials. And as the market continues to move towards more sustainable projects, 48 percent of respondents are highlighting or plan to highlight their expertise in climate and biodiversity work.

ASLA and its Climate and Biodiversity Action Committee provide education and resources to help landscape architects decarbonize their projects, including:

  • Decarbonizing Specifications: A Guide for Landscape Architects, Specifiers, and Industry Partners
  • Decarbonizing the Design Process: A Phase by Phase Approach for Landscape Architects
  • Navigating Environmental Product Data: A Guide for Landscape Architects, Specifiers, and Industry Partners
  • Biodiversity and Climate Action 101 for Landscape Architects, a webinar series free for ASLA members

ASLA and Climate Positive Design continue to explore the feasibility of a new commitment program. Fill out this brief form to get news and stay up-to-date.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

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