Conway School of Landscape Design-Link to home map of Conway, MA Graduate Program in Sustainable Landscape Planning and Design

BRIAN HIGGINS ‘98

Restoration Specialist, Jones & Stokes, Seattle WA

Before attending CSLD, Brian Higgins earned a BA in Sociology from Georgetown University, but he felt his first real degree was in “riverology.” He spent twelve years as a river guide all over the West, Canada, and Ecuador, gaining exposure to botany, natural history, geomorphology, frontier history, archaeology, culinary arts, environmental law, and hydraulics. From his time on the rivers, Brian developed a desire to work in a field that protected these wild places for future generations.

After stints working for Patagonia, the National Audubon Society, and the Oregon State Legislature, Brian’s found his future direction in a book suggesting that the best way to protect rivers was to get involved in planning. Research into graduate schools that taught environmental planning ultimately led him to visit CSLD. Attracted by the student-to-teacher ratio, the intimate setting, and the school’s dedication to integrate the ecological sciences into responsible planning and design, Brian loaded up his van and kayak and headed east. At CSLD, Brian was introduced to the technical fields of surveying, drafting, technical writing, planning and design; he wrestled with the concepts of “scale, percent slope, and the planning handle” and eagerly put these newfound skills to use in his residential and community projects. His residential project was concerned with the protection and enhancement of a creek corridor while addressing the conflict between users of adjacent public land and the desired privacy of the landowner. His other projects involved the preparation of an Open Space and Recreation Plan for the town of Becket, and a streambank stability assessment for Deerfield Academy.

In his work as a restoration specialist for Jones & Stokes in Seattle, Brian applies his CSLD education to solving both small and large-scale restoration projects for his clients. Projects have included developing restoration plans for four sites on the American River, for two sites on the Wenatchee River, and multiple wetland creation and restoration projects. One recent project involved the design for restoring the missing 4-acre link of a large bog ecosystem in Washington. Another recent project involving improving fish passage for endangered Chinook salmon won an award from the local chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). Each new project is an opportunity to both learn and educate; a guiding principle that Brian carries with him from his days in Conway.

James McGrath ’98

City of Pittsfield Parks and Recreation Department, Pittsfield MA

After graduating from the University of Connecticut with a degree in Renewable Natural Resource Management, Jim worked for several years as a forestry technician in eastern Connecticut where he also served on a local inland wetlands committee. Jim arrived in the Conway area in support of his wife Christine (CSLD ’97), who was enrolled in the CSLD program. Fully intending to continue in the forestry profession, Jim soon realized that he also wanted to tackle the challenges of the program after watching Christine experience the project-oriented curriculum.

“I witnessed daily how CSLD was transforming Christine. She was developing the skills that I knew I needed to acquire to be a professional resource manager.” At CSLD, Jim was involved in the development of an Open Space and Recreation Plan as well as a riverbank restoration project. These projects helped Jim to refine his skills in project management and public presentation. Jim reports, “I left CSLD feeling confident that I had the technical skills the professional work place demanded: writing, presenting, conceptual thinking, etc.”

After graduating, Jim worked with the Natural Resource Conservation Service on farmland conservation plans and he continued to serve on local municipal conservation commissions.

These varied experiences led to a position with the Berkshire Regional Planning Commission where he worked on numerous grant funded environmental projects and reviewed proposals for development projects throughout the Berkshires. He also helped to draft the Regional Plan for the Berkshires, the long-range planning document for Berkshire County. In 2002, Jim took a job with the City of Pittsfield Parks and Recreation Department, where he directs the management of the city’s 31 parks as well as its recreation programming. Christine currently is a senior project manager with Okerstrom Lang Landscape Architects in Great Barrington, MA where she works on both municipal and residential landscapes.

“CSLD changed our lives. Christine and I feel lucky to have been a part of this small program that has such a large impact in the ecological landscape design and planning world. We use our CSLD-acquired skills daily and feel like we are leaving a lasting impression on the Berkshires through the projects we work on.”

Candace Currie ’97

Mapping & Planning Projects Manager, Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, MA

With a BS in business administration and a concentration in computer science, Candace attended CSLD after working in the high technology field for 17 years in a variety of software programming, quality assurance and technical writing positions. She found the key to free her of the golden handcuffs of software after meeting CSLD alums Mollie Babize and Sue Reed at the New England Environmental Conference at Tufts University. Candace said that from the moment she opened up an issue of the school’s newsletter, Con’text, she knew CSLD was her next step. Her skills of understanding the big picture and paying attention to details were easily transferable to CSLD’s program.

“The very first day of school was refreshing for me as Don invited us to sketch our hands, an elm leaf and Norway spruces in the distance.” The learning curve was steep, but well worth every step. Today, she looks back on the first student residential project she completed and cringes as she wonders if “I even give them anything to work with?” She said that her residential clients benefited from adjunct instructor wetlands ecologist, Bill Lattrell’s wetlands field trips as much as students did.

From the wet meadow of her residential client’s property in Conway to the vernal pool at Mount Auburn Cemetery, Candace has achieved one of her post-CSLD goals of working where wildlife can co-exist with city life and still maintain its natural rhythms. As a Mapping & Planning Projects Manager at Mount Auburn, where she has worked for almost six years, she successfully combines the skills that she used in the high technology field with the tools that she learned at CSLD. And she’s happy to report that a family of foxes has successfully survived two seasons within the 175 acre property of Mount Auburn Cemetery despite the coyotes. Candace has served on the CSLD Board of Trustees since 2003.

Seth Wilkinson ’99

Ecological Design, Orleans, Massachusetts

Seth came to CSLD with every intention of becoming a landscape designer. With a degree in environmental studies from Connecticut College and two years’ experience as sales manager at a boat building shop on Cape Cod, he was ready to launch a new career. Seth enjoyed his residential project, the landscape design of a sensitive lakefront home, but really found his stride working on a land management plan for an approximately 20-acre parcel of recently-purchased municipal land that had been in agricultural use for about a century.

After graduation, Seth landed a job as regional planner for the Cape Cod Commission, reviewing regulatory projects for natural resource and open space requirements as well as consistency with strict landscape and architectural standards. He also coordinated the Cape Cod Pathways project, to create a dedicated walking trail across Cape Cod, and served as the staff specialist for renewable energy planning and invasive plant species. His experience with renewable energy grew out of his CSLD research paper in sustainable development. After two years Seth took a position with the Town of Brewster Natural Resources and Conservation Department. In addition to regulatory wetland reviews, he managed the Town’s extensive open space holdings, overseeing field surveys, and conducting trail design, maintenance, and construction.

After nearly five years of experience working for local and regional government, Seth decided that he could be more effective in the private sector, where he would have the freedom to take on ambitious ecological restoration projects and fill a much needed niche while continuing to serve local government and other conservation organizations. Seth launched Wilkinson Ecological Design as a land management and restoration company with a special focus on wetlands protection and invasive species. Project highlights include a 65-acre Coastal Grassland Restoration project schedule and an Atlantic white cedar wetland restoration project to reestablish critical habitat. He has the only company on Cape Cod specializing in the management of invasive plants that pose a threat to native plant communities.

Seth and his wife constructed an environmentally-sound demonstration home to showcase such technologies as passive and active solar design, recycled building materials, masonry heater, alternative sewage treatment and plans for a wind generator. The home functions spectacularly without using any fossil fuels for heating or cooling. Seth also gets around in a car that runs on recycled vegetable oil and runs all his commercial equipment on Biodiesel.

Of his experience at CSLD, Seth says, “The conservation community is finally accepting and understanding the progressive science, ethic, and planning that CSLD has been espousing for decades now, giving CSLD grads a tremendous advantage over other professionals trained in more “conventional” programs. This was certainly an advantage when seeking jobs in the planning and conservation field, but I did not fully appreciate the preparation CSLD provided until I founded my own company and truly realized I had the necessary skills and values that are still severely lacking in the field of wetlands and conservation management.”