New Mexico · Landscape Architect seal requirements
New Mexico Landscape Architect seal requirements: proper sizing, signing and sealing of documents
As of
New Mexico fixes the registrant's seal in two places: Section 61-24B-10(B) NMSA 1978 and 16.44.1.11(B) NMAC. The seal bears the registrant's name and registration number and the legend "registered landscape architect state of New Mexico"; every plan, specification and report a registrant issues must be stamped with it, and the registrant's signature must be placed across the seal. Neither the statute nor the rule prescribes a diameter for it — the two-inch embossed circle in 16.44.1.11(A) is the official seal of the board itself — but the board's own FAQ tells registrants to secure a two-inch embossed circular seal, so two inches is the size that matches the board's published guidance.
The engineering and surveying board's legal name is the "state board of licensure for professional engineers and professional surveyors" (NMSA 1978 § 61-23-5(A); 16.39.1.8(A) NMAC); its own website styles it "New Mexico Board of Licensure for Professional Engineers & Professional Surveyors". NMAC prints the engineer and surveyor legends in lower case — "professional engineer", "professional surveyor" — while capitalizing "New Mexico" in the same sentence; the rule prescribes the words and does not address letter case. Do not copy 16.39.1.8(B) NMAC, which describes an embossed 1¾-inch seal of two concentric circles reading "state of New Mexico": that is the board's own official seal, not a licensee's. Engineers and surveyors licensed before the current rules who have kept the license without lapse may retain a previously approved seal (16.39.3.12(D), 16.39.5.11(D) NMAC). Both seal sections were last amended 12/16/2022 and remain the current text; the statute behind them has since moved ahead of the rule, in that NMSA 1978 §§ 61-23-19(B) and 61-23-27.8(B) now let the board "approve alternative authentications to physical or electronic seals", wording that 16.39.3.3 NMAC still quotes in its older, shorter form. 16.44.1 NMAC was replaced effective 9-30-16 and cites the Landscape Architects Act, Sections 61-24B-1, -3, -6, -7 and -10 NMSA 1978, as its authority; 61-24B-10(B) is the seal provision and dates from Laws 1985, ch. 151, § 10, unamended. The Act was previously scheduled to be repealed July 1, 2026; Laws 2025, ch. 66, § 3 (S.B. 113, signed April 7, 2025) amended Section 61-24B-17 so the board is terminated July 1, 2035 and the Act repealed July 1, 2036. Beware the introduced version of S.B. 113, which carried 2031 and 2032 — those figures were amended out before passage and do not state the law.
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New Mexico Landscape Architect seal
- Seal requirements
- 16.44.1.11(B) NMAC; Section 61-24B-10(B) NMSA 1978
- Legend
- “registered landscape architect state of New Mexico”
- Diameter
- No diameter is prescribed for the registrant's seal. Section 61-24B-10(B) NMSA 1978 fixes only the name and the legend; 16.44.1.11(B) NMAC fixes only the name, registration number and legend. The single dimension in the rule — "an embossed circular seal two inches in diameter, consisting of two concentric circles" — is Subsection A's description of the official seal of the board itself. The board's FAQ nonetheless tells registrants to secure that same two-inch embossed circle, so a two-inch round stamp matches the board's published guidance and contradicts no rule text; see the pitfall below before adopting the rest of the FAQ's design.
- Expiration date
- Both texts enumerate what the registrant's seal bears — the statute names the registrant's name and the legend, the rule adds the registration number — and no expiration or renewal date is among them. Registrations expire July 1 unless renewed on or before June 30 (16.44.4.8, 16.44.4.9 NMAC), but that date is not carried on the seal.(Section 61-24B-10(B) NMSA 1978; 16.44.1.11(B) NMAC)
- Signature date
- The rule requires the signature to be placed across the seal on all plans, specifications and reports, but prescribes no date; the statute requires the documents to be stamped and prescribes no date either, and no dating requirement appears anywhere else in 16.44 NMAC or in the Act. Note that the joint practice committee's handbook for building officials — guidance issued by the three design boards, not rule text — tells building officials the landscape architect's seal should be imprinted with signature and date, so a plan checker may expect a hand-dated signature next to the seal.(Section 61-24B-10(B) NMSA 1978; 16.44.1.11(B) NMAC; 16.44.2 through 16.44.10 NMAC; joint practices committee, Handbook for New Mexico Building Officials (2016 ed.), I.C.4)
- City on seal
- The prescribed legend is the only place wording in either text, and it names the state, not a city.(Section 61-24B-10(B) NMSA 1978; 16.44.1.11(B) NMAC)
- Each registered landscape architect may obtain the seal authorized by the board, bearing the registrant's name and the legend "Registered Landscape Architect - State of New Mexico". All plans, specifications and reports issued by a registrant shall be stamped with his seal.(Section 61-24B-10(B) NMSA 1978)
- The board may also authorize a seal/stamp for use by registered landscape architects. Said seal/stamp will bear the registrant's name and registration number and the legend "registered landscape architect state of New Mexico." The rule adds the registration number, which the statute does not require, and prints the legend in lower case without the statute's dash.(16.44.1.11(B) NMAC)
- All plans, specifications, and reports issued by a registrant shall have the registrant's signature placed across the seal/stamp.(16.44.1.11(B) NMAC)
- Board guidance, not rule text: the board's FAQ states that "each Landscape Architect registered for practice secures an embossed circular seal two inches in diameter, consisting of two concentric circles. The annular space between the two circles shall contain the seal of the State of New Mexico. Each registered Landscape Architect must submit a copy of his or her seal to the board office to be kept of file." Neither the two-inch dimension, the concentric-circle design, the state seal nor the filing step appears in 16.44 NMAC or in the Landscape Architects Act as a duty of a registrant; the two-inch design language is the board's own official seal in 16.44.1.11(A) NMAC. Send the board a copy of your seal, since the board asks for it, and confirm the design with the board office before ordering.(New Mexico Board of Landscape Architects, FAQs, https://www.rld.nm.gov/boards-and-commissions/individual-boards-and-commissions/landscape-architects/faqs/ (read 8-20-2026))
- The licensee shall refrain from lending his or her name or stamp/seal for plans or other documents for the preparation of which he or she was not directly responsible.(16.44.7.8(C)(9) NMAC)
- Nothing else in the chapter or the Act adds a sealing requirement. 16.44 NMAC Parts 2 (education and examination), 3 (registration), 4 (expiration and renewal), 5 (continuing education), 6 (inactive status and reinstatement), 8 (fees), 9 (complaints) and 10 (expedited licensure) were read and contain no occurrence of "seal" or "stamp"; Parts 11 and 12 do not exist. Sections 61-24B-1 through 61-24B-17 NMSA 1978 were read in the official compilation and mention a seal only twice: 61-24B-7(C), the board's power to "adopt and use a seal," and 61-24B-10(B), the registrant's seal quoted above.(16.44.2 through 16.44.10 NMAC; Sections 61-24B-1 through 61-24B-17 NMSA 1978)
New Mexico landscape architect seal questions
Two inches from the FAQ, or no size at all from the rule?▾
The rule and the board's FAQ do not agree about two inches. 16.44.1.11(A) NMAC gives "an embossed circular seal two inches in diameter, consisting of two concentric circles" with the seal of the state of New Mexico in the annular space as the official seal of the board; the registrant's seal is Subsection B, which prescribes no size, and Section 61-24B-10(B) NMSA 1978 prescribes none either. The board's FAQ tells registrants to secure that same two-inch embossed circle. Ordering a two-inch round stamp therefore matches the board's guidance and breaks no rule — but the FAQ's description omits the registrant's name, registration number and legend, which the statute and the rule do require, so ask the board office before putting the state seal of New Mexico on your stamp. (16.44.1.11(A), (B) NMAC; Section 61-24B-10(B) NMSA 1978; NM Board of Landscape Architects FAQ (rld.nm.gov))
Has the board office got a copy of your seal?▾
File a copy of your seal with the board. The board's FAQ tells every registered landscape architect to submit a copy of his or her seal to the board office to be kept on file. No rule in 16.44 NMAC and no section of the Act imposes that step, so it will not show up in the code — but it is what the board asks of registrants. (NM Board of Landscape Architects FAQ (rld.nm.gov), read 8-20-2026)
Is your signature placed across the seal?▾
Stamp everything, and sign across the stamp. The statute requires that all plans, specifications and reports issued by a registrant be stamped with the registrant's seal, and the rule requires the registrant's signature to be placed across the seal/stamp — not alongside it. (Section 61-24B-10(B) NMSA 1978; 16.44.1.11(B) NMAC)
Registered or licensed — which word does the legend use?▾
The legend uses "registered," matching the statutory title RLA (registered landscape architect). The statute writes it "Registered Landscape Architect - State of New Mexico" and the rule writes it in lower case as "registered landscape architect state of New Mexico"; neither authorizes "licensed landscape architect" wording, even though the board's own web pages talk about licences. (Section 61-24B-10(B) NMSA 1978; 16.44.1.11(B) NMAC; 16.44.1.7(W), (HH) NMAC)