I never thought that as an ecologist I would be consulting for architects and designers!  I just enjoyed the field work- poking around in rivers for insects to study pollutions' effects on acquatic ecolsystems, hiking moose trails in search of wolf behavior patterns, planting hillside with beachgrass to increase fish populations.  After I graduated college I worked my way to Califoria where I became a landscape designer.  I  loved my gardens, and did all the right environmental things a green designer does.  But I could never escape this feeling that I could do more to connect my tiny landscapes to a larger picture, I could do more to make a positive change in the world.  I decided that way to do that was to get in on the ground floor, and work with architects to preserve the nautral habitat, to keep the trees on a site, and to allow the natural environment to provide for the building and its occupants.

I use my experience in ecology and landscape design to create beautiful places for people and the planet.  Understanding ecology allows an architect to make the most of a site, from shade providing trees to air patterns to better use of materials and site.

Some of my best "Ah-ha!"  moments have been with the Biomimicry Institute when I took a course with Janine Benyus and Dana Baumeister and the wonderful folks who make up the Institute and the Guild.  There I learned all over the world there are people like me who use nature to solve their design challenges. 

I also am an avid member of the Long Now Foundation, and through their lecture series and projects have shifted my thinking to a ten thousand year timescale. 

Other people who have influenced me are Sim Van Der Ryn, Paul Hawken, William McDonough, Michael Pollan and Kurt Vonnegut.