Tristan Fields

Call for Comments: Guide for Plant Appraisal, Tenth Edition

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by Tristan Fields, ASLA

ASLA 2024 Professional General Design Honor Award. EcoCommons – Social and Ecological Resilience in the Campus Landscape. Atlanta, Georgia. Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects / image: Nick Hubbard

The Council of Tree and Landscape Appraisers (CTLA) invites your input on the current tenth edition of the Guide for Plant Appraisal. This public comment period will be open through February 28, 2025.

We encourage all stakeholders to share their feedback by specifying the section in question, stating their comment, proposing a revision for the section, and including a rationale for the suggested change.

Following this public comment period, CTLA will develop the eleventh edition of the Guide for Plant Appraisal. As the representative for the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA), I will serve on the Content Review Committee to ensure the interests of landscape architects are integrated into the synthesis of feedback. Our goal is to create a practical and effective resource for analyzing the appraisal value of landscapes.

Input from landscape architects is particularly crucial because the Guide for Plant Appraisal serves as an essential resource for professionals involved in valuing trees and plants within designed landscapes. Whether for litigation, insurance claims, or development planning, the guide provides standardized methodologies that help ensure equitable and consistent valuations. Landscape architects’ unique perspectives on site planning, design, and the role of plants in enhancing built environments are vital to making the next edition a comprehensive and practical tool.

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Women in Landscape Architecture Profiles, Part 2

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images: courtesy of Sahar Teymouri, ASLA, Joni Hammons, ASLA, and © CPEX, Shuangwen Yang, Associate ASLA, and Tristan Fields, ASLA

ASLA is continuing to celebrate #womeninlandscapearchitecture who are shaping our environment on social media this Women’s History Month. Last week, we recapped a first set of WILA profiles here on The Field for anyone who may have missed them. Check out that first installment for Alexandra Mei, ASLA, Angelica Rockquemore, ASLA, Sandy Meulners, ASLA, and SuLin Kotowicz, FASLA.

Today, we’re sharing the next set of profiles, of Shuangwen Yang, Associate ASLA, Heidi Hohmann, ASLA, Tristan Fields, ASLA, Joni Hammons, ASLA, and Sahar Teymouri, ASLA.

Shuangwen Yang, Associate ASLA

Who are the female role models who have influenced your career? 

I admire the perseverance of journalist and activist Jane Jacobs, who was passionately and fearlessly committed to introducing sympathetic city planning and design oriented around people and communities, during an era where women’s opinions weren’t welcome in many rooms. Another role model that I look up to is landscape architect Mikyoung Kim, FASLA. Seeing someone who looks like me to thrive and continue to be a great mentor to others in a white male dominated profession makes me see myself in a similar position to make greater impact.

What advice do you have for other women pursuing a career in landscape architecture?

No matter what ups and downs you run into, always uplift your peers, deeply believe in your values, and speak confidently about your work, because somebody somewhere is inspired by what you do.

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