April 7, 2026 Monthly Newsletter

BOARD BULLETIN

Happy WLAM and Hello!

In honor of World Landscape Architecture Month and with the relaunch of our social media accounts, it seems like a great time to say hello and introduce ourselves. As you may already know, the North Carolina Board of Landscape Architects (NCBLA) is the licensing board regulating the practice of landscape architecture in our state. You most likely only have contact with us when confirming your continuing education credits, renewing your license, or speaking with our Board Administrator, Barbara Geiger. We’d like to let you know more about who we are and what we do.

Part of renewing your license each year is the completion of 10 contact hours of approved continuing education (CE). The Continuing Education Advisory Committee meets regularly throughout the year to review CE applications and determine their relevance to landscape architecture and the protection of public health, safety, and welfare. The Committee then makes recommendations to the Board and the approved CE database is updated. There’s a great video on our website where Barbara explains all things related to continuing education – and you can earn an hour of CE!

For those pursuing licensure in North Carolina, you’ll want to know the three E’s – education, experience, and exam. There are multiple paths to licensure in North Carolina depending on your degree and experience. We encourage you to visit our website for more information or reach out if you have any questions.

There is sometimes confusion about the difference between NCBLA and the North Carolina Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects (NCASLA). While the Board’s focus is continuing education, licensure, and regulation, NCASLA is the professional association that promotes landscape architecture through advocacy, communication, education, and fellowship. The NCASLA Past President sits on our Board as a Special Liaison.

One initiative NCBLA and NCASLA are working on together is the adoption of CLARB’s Uniform Standards for licensure (UNS). We’ll provide more information in future bulletins about UNS, the steps the Board and NCASLA have taken to date, what it means specifically for landscape architects in North Carolina, and the path forward to adopt the standards.

In the coming months, we’ll dive deeper into UNS, the grant program NCBLA recently launched, opportunities for CE, and other key topics related to licensure. We encourage you to stay connected by watching for our upcoming bulletins and following along on our social media channels linked below.