Barbara Peterson

In the US, the main base materials seen in playgrounds (considering here the “playground” area, an area which has play equipment and is not a sports field) include: (the loose fill materials) sand, pea gravel, wood mulch, engineered wood fiber, shredded / recyled rubber, and (the unitary surfacing materials) poured-in-place rubber and rubber ti…[Read more]

That is incredible. Would like to see the bridges during the monsoon period to see how high above the river they are. Super clever!

Agreed. 
But if they were going to change or use some designation to distinguish registered l.a.’s, why go with a bunch of letters that are unknown? Why not use something like RLA which is already in use by many l.a.’s already?
 

Northern Germany: most Americans travel to southern Germany to see the castles and mountains but they miss out on the beautiful beaches and forests of the north.  The Schleswig-Holstein area is really nice. I’d recommend a B&B off the beach promanade…perhaps farther ‘in town’ (pick one of the small towns along the beach). I haven’t been to the N…[Read more]

“People -despite their artistic pretentions, their sophistication, and their many accomplishments – owe their existence to a six-inch layer of topsoil and the fact that it rains.” (don’t know the author – my soils prof had this posted on the wall with many other soils-related quotes…thought this was really good/true and does apply to l.a.)
 

I agree with you & Roland: if there is a particular area of interest that you a ‘dying to research / explore’ then by all means go with the MLA. But if it is only to continue in school to gain ‘more knowledge’ then I do not believe that it is necessarily important in the “real world”: experience will be of more benefit.  No one asked me about my M…[Read more]

Have you looked into any scholarships through the Landscape Architecture Foundation (http://www.lafoundation.org) or the ASLA (http://www.asla.org – click the Education link and go to the LA Student and finally the Scholarships & Fellowships). Have you also searched under ‘green scholarships’ or ‘environmental scholarships’?  Maybe also consider talking wit…[Read more]

This is in interesting question / topic. It is hard when you have a baby & have to get back to work w/in a few weeks of having it. And there is a lot more involved than just working or not working: there is a lot of “how to make it work” considerations.  Perhaps part of the answer is to look at / discuss ‘flexible work schedules’…[Read more]

Don’t know how most firms work up there but have you tried contract labor?  That is, talking to various firms about helping out on whatever projects they need an extra hand on at the moment: you would be considered self-employed so no benefits but at least you would get your foot-in-the-door now so that when things pick up, you’d already have con…[Read more]

Did you submit a topic to moderate (with a list of female panelists) or a paper to present yourself at this conference? 
Not sure which region you are in but you made me curious about our state ASLA Conference (I’m in Texas) so I just now went on-line to see what topics were slated for the conference in two weeks and to see if there were any fe…[Read more]

I’m a registered l.a. with about 18 years experience (residential, commercial, and public projects including construction administration)…and a female.  Here’s what I’ve found not only though my work but by talking with other female l.a. friends.  Sometime clients, architects, engineers, contractors, and other l.a.’s – both male and female – d…[Read more]

(a little late with a reply but…) one quick reference is http://www.zoolex.org – search in the Gallery section for ‘bears’. Several bear habitat examples (not all brwon bears) will come up. Also, under the Firm link, you can find design firms that work in the zoological field. Hope this helps.

‘take this hat off and put another on’…’we were many hats”… (for some reason this drives me crazy)

How fabulouse these look. The real woods around the area add to the atmosphere … or should I say, the play areas add to the atmosphere of the real woods beautifully. Where is this one located?

Not sure where you are located but if you are in the States, I would start by going to a Lowe’s or Home Depot or another building supply store that carries books and magazines. Because they are geared toward homeowner construction, they have some good construction books that also have details and they describe how-to-do-it yourself so you can…[Read more]

Me too: I use both “RLA, ASLA” behind my name to designate that I am registered with the state and that I am a member of our prof. organization (although there are folks out there that don’t know what ASLA is). I do not sign drawings in our office but I think that it helps my credibility when other consultants realize that I too am a registered…[Read more]

Bear in mind when conducting research on and design for animals the animal itself. And remember that what has been done in the past (even recent past) is not always correct or ‘the best’. As you do your background research don’t forget to critically analysize what you read. And learn as much as you can about ‘your’ study animal as possible. For…[Read more]

I also had a professor when I was working on my masters that for some reason ‘had it out for me’. I’m sure that part of it was personality conflict (we are both hardheaded) but at the time, I had no idea what set him off.
Long story short, he wanted me out and I thought ‘to hell with you, I’ll graduate from this program no matter what it takes’. I…[Read more]

I’m not sure if this might help you with some background reseach but I just received notice from Amazon.com about some books on conservation education (funny timing). The one that they mentioned on their e-mail was ‘Conservation Education and Outreach Techniques (Techniques in Ecology and Conservation)’ by Susan Jacobson. If you look at that page,…[Read more]