Sessions

Credits: 1.5

This session will be collaborative in nature and open to participation by attendees.  Our goal will be to develop a strategy for implementing an outreach effort within our chapter for expanding opportunities for Native Americans and drawing them to careers in Landscape Architecture.  It is strongly evident that the ties between cultural and community aspects of native peoples and the high value of art and visual communication parallel the ethos of Landscape Architectural values.  We both are storytellers and community builders.   This effort will require outreach, collaboration, and pairing of practitioners, educators, and native ambassadors to formulate, educate, and celebrate our profession.  It is the hope that this effort will establish a standard for our National Organization and International Landscape Architectural Organizations to learn from and perhaps emulate.  Perry Howard, FASLA, once used the phrase “each one can reach one”; and this kind of grassroots approach to outreach within rural and tribal communities embodies the “doing” part of what will be needed for this to happen. 

Credits: 1.0

Safety as a Design Responsibility examines how design professionals shape safer environments through early, intentional site design decisions. Presented from a landscape architect’s perspective, the session explores Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) and wildfire defensible space as established tools within the professional design process.

CPTED is grounded in research showing that criminal behavior is strongly influenced by the perceived risk of being seen or caught, highlighting how visibility, spatial clarity, and layout influence decisions that precede criminal acts, while wildfire defensible space focuses on how vegetation, materials, and landform modification influence fire behavior in developed areas. Rather than treating safety as a checklist or post-design measure, the course emphasizes how site planning, grading, planting, circulation, and long-term maintenance embed safety directly into the landscape. 

Credits: 1.0

Dinosaur Park, a 1930s WPA masterpiece and National Register landmark, stands above Rapid City on a rugged ridgeline. While a beloved destination for decades, the site’s steep terrain and aging infrastructure historically presented significant barriers to safety and access. This session explores the technical and ethical complexities of the recent multi-million-dollar renovation. Attendees will walk the "accessible route," examining how the design team navigated extreme topography, preserved historic concrete sculptures, and implemented modern safety standards without compromising the site’s "spirit of place." The tour highlights the intersection of historic preservation and the landscape architect’s duty to provide equitable, safe, and restorative public spaces.