Janet Silbernagel Balster, PhD, is an internationally recognized landscape scholar and practitioner with expertise in landscape ecology, regional and ecological design, and GIS. Prior to founding Silvernail Geodesign, LLC in 2020, Janet devoted 25 years to academics as faculty of landscape architecture, GIS and conservation at two universities, where she led projects in Asia, Europe, the Pacific Northwest, and the Great Lakes regions. Before that, she was a landscape ecologist and landscape architect with the US Forest Service responsible for planning, designing, and overseeing construction of outdoor recreational facilities, the management plan for Grand Island National Recreation Area, and mapping ecological units across Upper Michigan.