|
ROBIN SIMMEN '01
Manager, Brooklyn GreenBridge, Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Brooklyn, NY
Robin came to CSLD with a bachelor’s degree in English and anthropology
from Cornell University, a year studying botany at the University of
Oregon, and a year of graduate work in anthropology at Columbia
University. A serious photographer, for ten years she was the senior
editor at Amphoto Books, where she produced many best-selling nature
titles. A strong desire to “step outside the frame” and become a direct
advocate for the environment motivated her decision to study at CSLD.
“Making beautiful books was aesthetically satisfying,” she says, “but
ultimately, selling images of disappearing wilderness felt like window
dressing for corporate short-sightedness. Leaving Times Square for Conway
was more than a breath of fresh air for me—it helped restore my soul.”
After graduation Robin found work as a regional land-use planner for
the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission, based in West Springfield, MA. Her
winter project at CSLD—a state-approved Open Space and Recreation Plan for
Cummington, Massachusetts—helped her get the job. Doing environmental
planning for a wide range of municipalities, from tiny villages to major
cities, she acquired a good background in source water protection,
large-scale urban-design projects, and an understanding of how regional
politics affect community resources.
Robin returned to New York to manage Brooklyn GreenBridge, the
community horticulture program of Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Her work
promotes a greener Brooklyn, sustainable landscaping, waste prevention,
and conservation. She teaches workshops and street clinics, writes
newsletters and tipsheets, and gives technical assistance to community
gardens as well as block and merchant associations, overseeing such annual
events as Making Brooklyn Bloom (a day of exhibits and workshops), the
Greenest Block in Brooklyn Contest, and the Sustainable Gardening Project.
Designing and promoting rainwater harvesting systems is a favorite part of
her job. Robin thinks that “New Yorkers don’t just talk about
conservation—we live it. Making urban landscapes greener, more sustainable
and desirable places to live helps preserve wilderness by preventing
sprawl, the biggest environmental threat to North America.”
The first time Robin visited the campus in Conway, she knew that CSLD
was the right program for her. “CSLD’s intensive program is a total
immersion experience, plunging students into real-life projects that
require quick, careful decision making. My third-term project—designing a
town park for Tilton, New Hampshire—prepared me to do top-notch
presentations on a professional level. Environmental protection depends on
community education, and learning to facilitate group dialogue and work
through conflict is a great strength of the CSLD program. MICHAEL CAVANAGH ‘02
Landscape Designer, Horticulturist, Arborist, Newport, RI
Before attending CSLD, Michael had a background in landscape painting
and a degree in fine art. He had an abundance of experience in landscape
gardening, and landscape construction, including horticulture experience in
Japan and in the Caribbean, as well as running his own business in
Newport, Rhode Island, where his landscape projects included mostly
residential construction and maintenance with some small commercial
projects.
In 2000, he began looking for more specialized training in landscape
design. There seemed to be no better match for him than CSLD’s intensive
one-year design program focusing on sustainability and ecological
priorities. The program at CSLD was ‘tailor made’ to impart a wealth of
knowledge and a new set of tools for an individual that was already
immersed in the field. He enrolled looking to acquire finer tools in site
analysis, planning, and design. His stated goals at the beginning of the
program were met: to acquire drafting skills, to develop formal tools of
analysis, and to understand landscapes from an ecological perspective.
After graduation, Michael went back to work in Rhode Island, designing,
building and maintaining landscapes. He found that the greatest difference
in his work was the focus on sustainable design. He has worked native
plant choices, sustainable design principles, and the control of invasive
plants, into the center of all project work. Sustainable landscape design
in general is an uphill battle: “almost everything that we as a culture
do, or don’t do, to our ‘yardscapes’, our ‘streetscapes’, and our
‘cityscapes,’ is wrong.” Correcting that -- really correcting that -- is a
process of educating people, offering alternatives, and acting against the
grain of popular preference. Results can be disappointing and success is
often incomplete. The value of the education and the principles upheld by
Conway School of Landscape Design become even more significant when looked
on in this light.
Quoting John Hart (in an article originally printed in the New
Hampshire Landscape Association newsletter, Oct. 2003), Michael agrees
that “Aldo Leopold clearly defined the right direction 60 years ago: ‘A
thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and
beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise.’”
Michael says that CSLD offers the opportunity to understand and then
practice what it means to support the biotic community and how in doing
so, we support our human community in a way that is urgently needed. Amanda Wischmeyer ’03
Civil Engineering Draftsperson, Cincinnati, Ohio
Amanda enrolled at CSLD with a BS in environmental biology from the
University of Dayton, where she researched the establishment of native
prairie in various disturbed environments. After graduation from UD,
Amanda worked as a field biologist monitoring endangered species and
delineating wetlands. “As I observed these endangered species and visited
beautiful wetlands, I realized that I needed to be working in a field
where I could have some influence in land planning to not only preserve
our natural environment, but to educate others on the importance of the
ecological world.”
At CSLD, Amanda was exposed to all levels of land planning, beginning
with her residential project. Amanda’s clients had just purchased a 10
acre piece of land; they wanted a house and workshop sited with solar
orientation and low ecological impact taken into consideration. An
in-depth analysis of the ecologically complex site led Amanda to propose
an earth-sheltered home with an exposed south facing facade that was
tucked into an existing hillside that opened out onto a historic railroad
bed.
The winter project, an Open Space and Recreation Plan for a small
community in rural Massachusetts, provided Amanda with the opportunity to
learn about community involvement in the land planning process. “This
project enabled me to understand the thought process and traditions of
small communities and the importance of educating the public on
environmental issues.”
The final team project required Amanda to use the skills learned in the
previous projects to develop a low-budget, interpretive trail system with
community approval for a non-profit museum. “The challenge of designing a
trail system with interpretive information for any age was difficult, but
rewarding when it all came together.”
Since she graduated from CSLD, Amanda has been applying the experience
gained in landscape design and land planning at a civil
engineering/architecture/landscape architecture firm. She is learning CAD
(computer-aided design) and aspects of civil engineering and land
planning. In addition, Amanda and her husband are in the process of
developing their own residential landscape design business.
“CSLD’s hands-on approach gave me the skills needed to understand the
landscape and become part of the land planning process. In addition to the
core education, faculty and fellow classmates provide an invaluable
breadth of knowledge and experience.”
|