2020 APLD Service Awards

Dear APLDWA Members,

We want to follow up on our announcement last week about three of our APLDWA Chapter members winning national 2020 Service Awards from APLD. These awards were announced by Eric Gilby, PLA, the current APLD President, during our virtual APLD Town Hall on November 5th.

Harry Schuster Award

The 2020 APLD Harry Schuster Award was bestowed upon Lisa Port, FAPLD. This award is named for one of our founding members, Harry Schuster, APLD, who was well known and loved for his enthusiasm, his mentoring of many designers and his boundless energy for recruiting new members. This award is presented to a member who exhibits enthusiasm and selfless efforts towards furthering the mission of APLD. In that context, of course our very own Lisa Port, past APLDWA Chapter President, was recognized!

Lisa has been actively serving APLD for over 10 years, moving through various leadership positions and service roles tirelessly, including the highest leadership role as APLD President. The underlying thread of her passion is always teaching, mentoring, serving and uplifting APLD members. She is a passionate advocate for landscape designers and many of her efforts are focused on protecting and expanding our right to practice. Her current mission within APLDWA is to shepherd more of our members through the certification process, thus elevating them and the profession.

Eric finished his tribute by saying “From advocacy, to leadership, to revamping our certification process, APLD and landscape designers are better for her association with our organization. I want to thank Lisa Port, FAPLD personally for being a great brand champion and the best APLD cheerleader! Congratulations, Lisa!” We wholeheartedly agree with Eric’s assessment!

Award of Distinction

The 2020 APLD Award of Distinction was given to Vanessa Gardner Nagel, FAPLD, NCIDQ. This award was established to recognize a landscape professional who has made a distinguished contribution to the landscape design profession and is not restricted to APLD members; Vanessa joins the company of many similarly distinguished designers, e.g., Bernard Trainor, Piet Oudolf, and Julie Moir Messervy. Vanessa is an award-winning designer, author, and speaker and has designed and installed many notable and beautiful landscapes.

Eric noted that “some might argue that her work to advance our profession and support other designers might outweigh what she does in the garden. She has tirelessly worked to teach and support fellow professionals. And, she sincerely believes that educating each other is the best way to promote our profession as a whole.”

Vanessa advanced that mission through volunteer service on both the national and local levels, and by writing articles for the APLD magazine. She has educated both home gardeners and fellow professionals through her two published books and many inspirational speaking engagements. She continues to promote public awareness for our industry. APLDWA is proud to include Vanessa in our membership and share her with the Oregon Chapter as well.

Chapter Service Award

This year there were two APLD Chapter Service Awards given and one of them went to Tina Nyce, FAPLD. Tina’s work with APLD goes back over 30 years, as she was at the founding members meeting in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania in 1989. The following year, in 1990, regional work for the association began. It took ten years for research and test programming to come together for the founding of the first APLD chapter, which was our own Washington Chapter, in 2000. One can only wonder when our Washington Chapter would have been born if Tina hadn’t moved here from Vermont in 1996!

Over the next 20 years, Tina worked tirelessly for our Chapter, serving as its first (and third and fifth!) president, treasurer, secretary, membership chair, and program chair (three times). She also chaired the National APLD Conference held in Seattle in 2002, co-chaired the 10th Anniversary Gala in 2010, and created quarterly events for APLDWA certified members. Eric noted “The person who nominated Tina, said, ‘This is long overdue.’ And, I have to agree. I suspect that there isn’t a volunteer position within the chapter that Tina has not held.”

Her dedication to the APLD chapter structure extends far beyond Washington, as she co‐wrote APLD’s Chapter Guide Book that is a reference for all 17 current APLD chapters. Tina also won the Harry Schuster Award in 2006, and served on the National Board as Membership Chair and 25th anniversary committee. Since 2017 Tina has stepped back and taken the role of advisor, saying that after 40 years with APLD, she is loving watching the next generation take over. Thank you, Tina Nyce, for your service to APLDWA!

Please join me in congratulating these three APLDWA members, Lisa, Vanessa and Tina, for their outstanding work on our behalf! They have made our chapter, our national organization, and our profession better and more successful through their collective efforts.

We have a terrific group of current volunteers and are looking for more. If you are feeling ready for some true connections with your fellow designers, please join a committee of your choice. As I heard Laura Kleppe once say about APLD, “Becoming a member gets you a seat at the table. Volunteering gets you into the game.”

Kevin,
Chapter Prez