Arboretum San Antonio honored with ASLA Colorado’s President’s Award of Excellence
Every year, the American Society of Landscape Architecture (ASLA) Colorado/Wyoming chapter recognizes professionals in their pursuit to lead, educate, and participate in the stewardship, planning, and design of our cultural and natural environment. For the 2025 awards program, Sasaki’s Arboretum San Antonio Master Plan received the President’s Award of Excellence in the Analysis and Planning category.
The San Antonio Arboretum Master Plan envisions a 230-acre living museum of trees rooted in the ecology, culture, and heritage of South Texas. Located on San Antonio’s Southeast Side, the Arboretum transforms a former private golf course into a free and immersive, restored landscape that reconnects people to stories and benefits of trees.
The design restores 13 native habitat types, enhances the Salado Creek corridor, and proposes climate-resilient planting strategies. The Arboretum includes botanical collections, education spaces, contemplative trails, and culturally responsive programming, serving as a public amenity and platform for environmental equity. The planning process integrated rigorous site analysis, Indigenous and cultural research, and multilingual community engagement to inform a multi-pronged Master Plan. It includes a strategic plan, business plan, site design, ecological management plan, and operations and maintenance plan, setting the stage for holistic implementation.
The design honors indigenous heritage through landscape restoration and interpretive elements that reflect traditional ecological knowledge.
Today, the arboretum hosts over 30 woody species, with more than 70% of the site covered by forest canopy. Notable specimens include large-caliper live oaks, cedar elms, and pecans, some reaching up to 75” in circumference.
The park’s design is shaped by the site’s unique location, sitting at the intersection of multiple ecoregions, making it a prime location to showcase Texas’s ecological diversity. Culminating into a living museum of trees, the arboretum will showcase over 150 native and adapted tree and shrub species that make up San Antonio’s diverse urban forest. A long-term goal is to achieve Level III Arboretum Certification, requiring documentation of over 500 species.
By mapping remnant habitats and species, the team created a long-term management plan that supports biodiversity, community science, and culturally rooted restoration practices.
This project was recognized for its equity-driven approach to landscape planning, deep response to site and region, and innovative model of community-centered design. Read more about the project’s recognition and other awarded projects here, and congratulations to the team!
Alice Calmon, Booker Tieszen, Andy Sell, Anna Cawrse, Ashley Pelletier, Isla Francis, Joshua Brooks, Jordan Pulling, Sydney Bittinger, Caroline Lindquist, and Allyson Mendenhall at the 2025 ASLA Colorado/Wyoming Awards Celebration
