We’re a conflicted culture.
We go to great lengths to live close to nature, yet typically maintain perfectly groomed lawns. We value clean, clear water, but don’t realize we send dirty rainwater directly to lakes via storm sewers. We want to see and hear songbirds, but to accommodate our lifestyles, we mow and pave their habitat away.

How do we reconcile these conflicting desires?
The landscape architects and ecologists know how to maintain ecological integrity while providing the amenities we’ve all come to expect. The key is to work with nature to accommodate people’s needs.

When Landscape Ecologist ans Architect (EA) begin a project, we first seek a deep understanding of the site and the processes at work there, how soil, light, water, and air interact with plants and animals. We also determine how people are affecting the area and what they desire from it. Successful projects occur when this understanding is incorporated with an intimate knowledge of the site’s ecological identity.

The results: Clean lakes and stable shorelines. Lush rainwater gardens instead of expensive storm sewer systems. Soothing, green urban environments with shaded parking lots and blooming workplaces. We knows that the human influence on nature is enormous. But we never forget that it influences us, too. When our landscape design projects do the right thing for the environment as well as for people, we increase the chances that nature will in turn do right by us.