Each year thousands of visitors walk along the shore of Washington, D.C.’s Tidal Basin to enjoy the blossoming cherry trees and visit monuments to leaders such as Thomas Jefferson and Martin Luther King, Jr. Its beauty is matched by the complexity of the Tidal Basin’s many meanings by visitors from around the world.

But this iconic memorial landscape is under threat. Rising sea levels compromise the basin's historic resources and visitors’ experiences, creating hazardous flooding on the sidewalks and compromising the roots of our beloved cherry trees. To protect this cultural landscape, the National Trust, together with Trust for the National Mall and the National Park Service, asked five prestigious landscape architecture firms to reimagine the Tidal Basin, and their innovative proposals have sparked new thinking about what this landscape can become.

If you have ever visited this local National Treasure, the National Trust would like feedback about your experience. Share your thoughts with a short survey; the responses will help inform decisions about the future of the Tidal Basin's design.