PROFESSIONAL OBJECTIVE
Integration of native plant communities with built and agricultural environments
WORK HISTORY
Residential, Commercial, Municipal, and Non-profit Organizations – Contractor, WI, OH, MI.
June 1990 – Present. Highlights of Recent Michigan Projects include:
- Residential, New Construction: Commissioned Survey and Civil Engineering to create storm water runoff detention basins working with Excavator, designed and installed vegetation in and around basins
- Designed and obtained permits to mitigate urban storm water runoff using innovative technique of burlap bags filled with wood chips and planted to native species to limit infiltration into spring-fed stream
- Obtained permits for four shoreline stabilization projects after completing Michigan Natural Shoreline Partnership Certification Training
- Currently involved in multiyear restoration of 7 contiguous acres of former woodland in Glen Arbor, restoring grassland and savanna vegetation following massive storm event
- Creating a local-genotype native plant and seed nursery on a 92-acre parcel owned in Leelanau Co.
American Players Theater – Consultant / Contractor, Spring Green, WI.
October 2005 – June 2010
- Performed landscape assessment, botanical inventory, and management planning
- Grant writing to secure funding for vegetation management, landscape scale preservation, and conservation of five animals included in state Wildlife Action Plan, identified by consultant
- Secured and implemented USFWS grant in the fall of 2008 for barrens restoration, inclusive of volunteer efforts (Eagle Scouts) in part making match requirements, awarded WHIP grant
Blue Mounds Area Project – Consulting Outreach Ecologist, Mount Horeb, WI.
May–November 2009
- Data consolidation for 158 landowners comprising over 13,000 acres within the Driftless Area
- Investigated database linkage to on-line mapping applications for monitoring / management
- Developed narratives to convey management concerns in manner educating the landowner as a consumer of natural resource conservation services and presenting botanical findings
Taliesin, the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture – Visiting Professional Member, Spring Green.
June-October 2008
- Presented a course on ecology and land management to the school’s students, including:
- The process of historic research, vegetation management, and plant identification
- The use of GIS and GPS to field locate trails and map historic extent of prairie openings
Taliesin Preservation Inc. – Consultant / Contractor, Spring Green, WI
June 2007 – August 2008
- Wrote an awarded Landowner Incentive Program grant, assisted with fire break development
- Control of exotic species invasions, continued historic landscape preservation
- Identified additional protected and concern species including plants and animals (see below)
JFNew / WisDOT, Bureau of Equity and Environmental Services – Sub-consultant, Madison, WI.
September 2007 – November 2009
- Assisted JFNew in winning a contract with the Wisconsin Department of Transportation
- Performed the botanical aspects of wetland delineation on wetland mitigation banking sites
American Family Insurance International Headquarters – Consultant, Madison, WI.
April-October 2005
- Performed landscape assessment and management needs identification and prioritization
- Provided narrative articulating scalable and context dependant management tasks framing summer interns’ decision making process and aiding American Family Insurance employees
Wisconsin Department of Transportation, Bureau of Highway Operations – Consultant, Madison, WI.
May 2001 – June 2005
- Created Plans Specifications and Estimates as bid packages and subsequent contracts for the management of prairie remnants, total including awarded contracts in excess of $500,000
- Project manager for let bids: directed activities of contractors, confirmed compliance, created contract modifications, and authorized and executed payments over 3 – 4 year terms
- Prepared and presented “pre-construction” meetings with utility and road reconstruction companies and state, regional, and county personnel of WisDOT and the WisDNR
- Performed exhaustive “post construction” review of specifications’ performance, cost estimates, and mapping standards: culminated in final reports
Strand Associates, MSA Professional Services – Sub-consultant, Madison, WI.
June 1999 – August 2001
- Conducted exhaustive botanical inventories of prairie remnants: Identified 315 native species of total 404, inclusive of 2 endangered, 1 threatened, and 6 species of special concern
- Ranked abundance of all species within units to assess biodiversity, processed data
- Mapped distribution of five invasive species along the length and width of the rights-of-way
- Further developed mapping protocol initiated under preceding contracts with WisDOT
- Wrote detailed and quantitative reports summarizing field data and management concerns
Taliesin Preservation Commission (Taliesin Preservation Inc.) – Consultant, Spring Green, WI.
June 1996 – March 2000
- Wrote Urban Forestry Grant to initiate a landscape assessment of the historic property
- Conducted exhaustive botanical inventories identifying 446 species including one state-endangered, one state-threatened, and four special-concern species
- Created a PowerPoint presentation communicating a strategic plan
- Created ArcInfo application rectifying historic aerial photography with ortho-photography and multiple contour maps to assess landscape change between 1937 and 1995
- Mapped over 700 trees and created an interactive tree management plan with ArcInfo
Wisconsin Department of Transportation, Department of Maintenance – Consultant, Madison, WI.
May 1996 – February 2000
- Performed inventory for the presence of wild lupine within selected soils of 24 counties as baseline for Karner blue butterfly Habitat Conservation Plan, created ArcInfo (GIS) application
- Located highest quality prairie remnants on state and federal highways, identified 671 species including 8 threatened species, 10 of special concern, and 1 federally endangered animal
- Mapped vegetative trends and management recommendations using Microstation (CAD)
- Conducted inventories of all WisDOT prairie restorations: 44 projects with 444 subsets
Wisconsin Department of Transportation, Department of Maintenance – Consultant, Madison, WI.
January 1993 – May 1996
- Awarded one of the contracts previously funding employment as a field botanist (below)
- Enhanced mapping protocol’s content, format, and digitization from previous blue print process used by other engineering firms, initially with graphic software and then CAD
- Conducted botanical inventories of wetlands, woodlands, and prairies state wide
- Undertook numerous special projects initiating vegetation management for department including plans for staging road building equipment, soil borrow and fill sites, mitigation
Foth and Van Dyke, Mid State Associates – Field Botanist, Madison, WI.
September 1990 – April 1995
- Performed field inventories of highway rights-of-way for reconstruction planning, management
- Assisted with first use of prescribed burns within highway corridors by WisDOT
University of Wisconsin – Madison, Department of Landscape Architecture – Research Assistant, WI.
January 1989 – August 1991
- Inventoried extensive plantings of native trees and shrubs and prairie restorations along USH 39
- Entered data and conducted analysis to assess planting and management variables
- Contributed to annual reports under multi-year contact executed by Professor John Harrington
- Organized activities of county crews and contractors to manage plantings and seedlings
- Created and executed additional large-scale replicated and quantitative study of the effects of mowing on prairie establishment and the control of quack grass (Agropyron repens)
- Conducted three years of field data collection, entered and analyzed data inclusive of subsequent two years of data collected by others for thesis component of MSLA
- Course work included ecological restoration, advanced bio-statistics, historic preservation, policy, and numerous plant ecology courses within the Department of Botany
International Crane Foundation – Ecosystem Restoration Intern, Baraboo, WI.
June 1985 – December 1986; June 1986-August1986
- Designed, collected, and planted seed mixes to restore woodland, prairie, and wetlands
- Managed restorations in various stages of growth, inclusive of prescribed burns
- Conducted quantitative sampling, data entry and analysis, and herbarium work
- Monitored water table levels associated with pothole prairie restorations
- Interaction with the UW-Madison Landscape Architecture Department, UW-Madison Arboretum, and UW-Madison Herbarium in these activities
EDUCATION
University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison WI
MSLA All but Thesis (6 semesters of coursework)
University of Bordeaux-France, Bordeaux, France
Certificate in the French Language, 1987 (1 semester of coursework, 11 month practicum)
Northland College, Ashland WI
BS Biology, minors in Chemistry and French (4.5 semesters of coursework, near completion of dual degree in Philosophy)
MI Natural Shoreline Professional Training and Certification Program – Valid through 2020
GRANT AWARDS
Urban Forestry Grant Program (3)
Landowner Incentive Program (1)
Wildlife Habitat Incentive Program (1)
Partners for Fish and Wildlife Grant Program (1)
RESEARCH
Intern: Designing seed mixes of locally collected prairie species using varied concentrations of each and then conducting quantitative field research to establish the different results of the various mixes
Research Assistant: Investigating the effects of Date and Frequency of Mowing and Thatch Removal on the control of Quack Grass and the Establishment of Dry Prairie Species
Current: Conducted baseline vegetation inventory of 92-acre abandoned sand farm in Leelanau County MI to establish changes in biodiversity, biomass accumulation, and carbon sequestration over time.