Public Relations Committee Report April 2014

I’ve had a continuing dialogue with a contact at the National Park Service (NPS) over the past several months. This dialogue is regarding an opportunity for FLASLA chapter members to participate in a collaborative charrette (or, hopefully, more than one) for NPS initiatives in the state of Florida. Now we have a real opportunity to do so.

This opportunity is near Pensacola and will be related to the Rivers, Trails and Conservation Assistance (RTCA) program. It will be a planning effort to assist the Pensacola State College in developing a nature trail on their campus. The NPS now wants to move forward with assisting the applicant on fine tuning their project scope and then work together with FLASLA on a design charrette and concept plan for the project. The scope most likely will broaden to include a link to other local trail opportunities within the Pensacola area to serve the community as a whole and the College.

This would be a great learning opportunity for the college students, as well as a great partnership project between RTCA and ASLA. Perfect fit! NPS will help coordinate meetings and logistics, prepare marketing materials, etc. but they really need the LA's on board to assist with the design charrette and conceptual renderings etc. for the development of the conceptual plan.

I will continue this dialogue with my NPS contact to get this set up. Of course, we will need volunteers from the chapter, and I will commit to participate in the charrette also. This fits well with National’s mission of public service and we should be able to get some good PR for the effort.

I encourage interested members to contact me, and I will work through chapter leadership to coordinate this event.

Doug Smith,
FLASLA Public Relations Chair
dsmith@edsaplan.com
954-309-6888

Back to Florida Landscapes eBrief