Lake Douglas, professor emeritus of landscape architecture, has been awarded the The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF)’s Stewardship Excellence Award in recognition of his “inspiring, determined, and passionate advocacy on behalf of the cultural landscape legacy of New Orleans, the State of Louisiana, and the Gulf South, and commitment to promoting the profession of landscape architecture.”

Douglas, PhD, has been selected in recognition of his extraordinary and inspiring career as an esteemed landscape architecture educator and historian, his impactful advocacy, and his influential and authoritative body of published works that have advanced the depth of understanding of the region’s cultural landscape palimpsest.

As a professor of landscape architecture and associate dean of research and development at the LSU College of Art & Design for many years, he educated and inspired some of today’s leading practitioners. “He not only shaped the minds that are shaping landscapes, but he also established and consistently maintained a level of excellence and innovation in the teaching of landscape architecture,” according to TCLF.

His involvement with grassroots efforts to enhance and increase public open space in New Orleans, helping to launch such non-profits as Parks for All (2014), has been instrumental in addressing equity issues in the city; while his early involvement in the Friends of the Lafitte Greenway was both prescient and critical. As with academia, his involvement with these volunteer-driven groups, his knowledge, enthusiasm, and political acumen helped to instill an impassioned stewardship ethic for other activists, while broadening their lens to the cultural value of landscapes. For the city’s two largest parks — Audubon and City Parks — he has consistently advocated for a deeper understanding of their origins and development over time. In furtherance of TCLF’s education and advocacy work, he has been a frequent contributor of informative and important biographies to the Pioneers of American Landscape Design publications and databases; and he also made consistent efforts to insure that TCLF’s Landslide program addressed threatened cultural landscapes and landscape features in Louisiana.

More broadly, he has “published extensively in academic journals, popular magazines, books and professional publications in America, Europe and Asia, most often with a focus on the intersection of landscape architecture and other disciplines,” as noted by the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) when he was elevated to a Fellow in 2016. His “long and distinguished career as a meticulous researcher and prolific writer to document American cultural landscape history has advanced profoundly the profession of landscape architecture.” This estimable body of work includes: Public Spaces, Private Gardens: A History of Designed Landscapes in New Orleans, which received honor awards ASLA and its Louisiana chapter, together with the Williams Award from the Louisiana Historical Association; Steward of the Land: Selected Writings of Nineteenth-Century Horticulturist Thomas Affleck; and Buildings of New Orleans with Karen Kingsley. He also served as series editor of Reading the American Landscape for LSU Press.

 Shaun Duncan has also been selected for the award this year.

About the Stewardship Excellence Award

The honor was created in 2001 to “highlight stewardship stories that will educate and inspire future generations of cultural landscape stewards.” The awards will be presented to the honorees on October 10, 2025, during a reception at Octavia Gallery in New Orleans, LA, and coincides with the ASLA Annual Conference on Landscape Architecture, which is taking place in New Orleans.