Potomac Chapter ASLA Advocacy Committee
“This work was a behind-the-scenes labor of love conducted over years. Besides offering licensure to individuals, it also encourages a generation of emerging professionals to establish themselves and practice within the District, building opportunities to lead, grow, and inspire.” ‑ Kate Orff, FASLA, RAL, Founding Principal, SCAPE
It wasn’t until 2020—after an intensive ten year effort—that licensure for Washington, D.C. landscape architects became a reality. Thanks to the work of The Potomac Chapter ASLA Advocacy Committee, notably, of Dena Kennett, Robert Alter, ASLA, and Marsha Lea, FASLA, legislation was finally passed, making the District the 51st jurisdiction in the U.S. to require licensure for landscape architects. The effort faced many challenges, among them, that the U.S. was facing mounting pressure to deregulate the requirement for licensure in many professions, with landscape architecture as one of them. Despite this, the Committee worked ceaselessly to draft legislation, attend public hearings, meet with legal counsel, and ensure in the bill that landscape architects within the District met national standards for licensure. Finally, on April 1, 2020, the D.C.’s Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs (DCRA) began accepting applications to operate inside the District, granting those approved the public and professional legitimacy in the profession.
View nominating and supporting materials.