Landscape architects know that nature-based solutions can help address both the climate and biodiversity crises while also providing multiple economic, environmental, social, and health benefits. This incredible Task Force and Advisory Group, made up of biodiversity, climate, equity, and advocacy leaders, will show us the way and guide our collective action over the next five years,” said ASLA President Kona Gray, FASLA.

ASLA is developing a new Climate and Biodiversity Action Plan for the landscape architecture community. 

A five-member Task Force and 33-member Advisory Group of climate and biodiversity leaders from the landscape architecture profession is guiding this effort.

Meg Calkins, FASLA, Professor, Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning, NC State University, has been named chair of the Task Force.

Other Task Force members include:

• Equity Lead: Diane Jones Allen, FASLA, D. Eng., PLA, Director and Professor, Program in Landscape Architecture, University of Texas at Arlington (UTA), and Principal Landscape Architect, DesignJones, LLC, Arlington, Texas and New Orleans, Louisiana
• Biodiversity Lead: Jennifer A. Dowdell, ASLA, Practice Leader: Landscape Ecology, Planning & Design, Biohabitats, Baltimore, Maryland 
• Climate Lead: Mariana Ricker, ASLA, PLA, Associate Principal, SWA Group, San Francisco, California
• Advocacy Lead: Andrew Wickham, ASLA, PLA, Project Leader, Landscape Architecture, LPA Design Studios, Sacramento, California 

ASLA Climate and Biodiversity Action Plan Task Force / ASLA 

The goals and actions of the new plan will also be shaped by a Climate and Biodiversity Action Plan Advisory Group of 33 diverse leaders, who hail from 16 U.S. states and three countries and in private, public, and non-profit practice, and academia. The Advisory Group consists of 19 women and 15 men; and three Black, five Asian and Asian American, seven Latino/a, and two Indigenous members.

The new plan will be an update to the ASLA Climate Action Plan, which was released in 2022, and offers new goals and actions for 2026-2030. The scope of the new plan has been expanded – the climate and biodiversity crises will be treated as equal priorities, and the focus will be on actions that tackle both crises in an equitable way.  

The ambitious plan seeks to transform the practice of landscape architecture by 2040 through actions taken by ASLA and its members focused on biodiversity and ecological restoration, climate mitigation and adaptation, equity, and economic development.

The new plan and resources for ASLA members will be released at the ASLA Conference on Landscape Architecture, October 10-13, 2025, in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Learn more and how you can support the development of the plan.