A love of nature is at the heart of Ms. Russell’s expertise in sustainable and educational landscapes. At the core of her work is the integration of ecology into the built landscape to create vibrant and evolving places. This includes attention soil systems and the integration of native plants to create drought tolerant landscapes and vital habitat for animals and humans. She believes that nature provides important benefits for humans and should be celebrated by providing signage, art and other educational opportunities. She enjoys the design process from master planning and conceptual design through the development of details and construction documents. She finds that working collaboratively with our partners results in a dynamic planning process and impressive results. She also has extensive construction experience, working in the field to ensure that the design intent is successfully translated into the finished product. A LEED Accredited Professional since 2002, She has been a leader in the sustainability community, both nationally and in Baltimore. She served on the Board of Directors of the US Green Building Council’s Maryland Chapter as well as the Sustainable Sites Technical Advisory Group of USGBC National where she worked with a many like-minded professionals to contribute to the development of the LEED rating system. She presented several seminars for the United States Fish and Wildlife Service on “Conservation Landscaping for Federal Facilities” She also wrote and produced a popular brochure “Bayscapes – A Homeowner’s Guide to Designing your Property” for the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay which has been in publication for over 15 years. She has designed and coordinated volunteer installation of numerous gardening projects that serve to educate the public and to demonstrate sustainable landscaping techniques to homeowners. Demonstration gardens were installed as several U.S. Postal Service sites as well as the National Naval Medical Center. In addition, Ms. Russell was a contributor to the United States Postal Service’s Sustainable Site Guidelines. She shares her experience at conferences and have also authored numerous articles for publications including Landscape Architecture Magazine. She currently serve on the planning committee for the Green School Summit and the USGBC MD Program Committee. She also shares her love of nature with children and adults in volunteer planting events. She is a volunteer gardener and sustainability adviser at Roland Park Elementary Middle School in Baltimore.