John was raised in the foothills of the Wasatch Mountains near Salt Lake City, spending his formative years hiking and camping amongst the granite cliffs and sandstone formations of Utah’s varied landscapes. It was these times of solitude spent in nature that fostered his appreciation of native plants and wildlife as he observed firsthand the subtle adaptations these species developed to survive in specific environmental conditions. Since moving to the Chicago area, John has gained a similar level of admiration for the prairie, savanna, woodland, and wetland ecologies of the Great Lakes region, particularly fire-adapted prairie species.

Based on a lifelong passion for the built environment, historic preservation, and the natural world, John’s planning and landscape architecture career spans over a decade and encompasses a wide variety of scales, locations, and contexts, from high-level municipal and land use planning, to parks, trails, and open space plans. His iterative approach to planning and design strives to carefully consider the many aspects of these complex projects and weave them together to establish a cohesive, holistic set of solutions for clients and communities that are often phased in over time. John has also worked on numerous landscape architectural projects at various scales, coordinating across disciplines and managing day-to-day execution to keep projects on schedule and on budget.

“One of my favorite experiences at Living Habitats has been working closely with a multidisciplinary team of architects, engineers, and wetland specialists on a private estate in Mettawa, Illinois. The project went through multiple iterations with a final landscape design that met the client’s primary needs while enhancing an existing wetland and providing additional prairie and woodland habitats. This experience has proven invaluable, deepening my understanding of wetland ecology and the specific site conditions necessary to sustain healthy and productive prairie ecosystems.”