MON-FS-004: The Gardens of Alcatraz - History, Horticulture, and Humanity on the Rock

Monday, November 14, 2022

8:00am – 2:00pm PT

Location: Moscone Center, Room 101

3.00 PDH, LA CES/HSW, AICP, FL, NY/HSW
Ticket Price: $180 per person; includes transportation, water, and boxed lunch. Moderate walking.

Field Session Leader(s)

Jessica Rozul, ASLA

Landscape Designer
BASE Landscape Architecture
Oakland, California
Sutter Wehmeier, ASLA

Principal
BASE Landscape Architecture
San Francisco, California

Field Session Presenter(s)

SF

Shelagh Fritz

Senior Program Manager, Alcatraz and Black Point historic gardens
Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy
Novato, California
MB

Marney Beard

Volunteer, Gardens of Alcatraz
Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy
San Francisco, California
Christopher Kent, ASLA, LEED AP

Principal
PGAdesign
Oakland, California

In touring the Alcatraz Historic Gardens, you will visit one of the Bay Area’s iconic landscapes while learning about the rehabilitation of gardens created by officers and prisoners. This tour illustrates the importance of horticulture on “The Rock,” while highlighting ecological design, historic preservation, and issues of equity in corrections.

Credit: Shelagh Fritz

Learning Outcomes:

Examine the complex cultural significance and the history of garden preservation on Alcatraz.
Gain unique horticultural knowledge of the Alcatraz gardens and the ongoing challenges of landscape design + maintenance in the arid west (i.e. slope stabilization, soil import/improvement, salty winds, drought).
Contrast Alcatraz’s history of horticulture in corrections with a specific example of a contemporary hospice garden designed by Bay Area landscape architects at nearby California State Prison Solano.
Understand how landscape architects can create partnerships that preserve, rebuild, interpret, and/or maintain historic gardens.