The ASLA New York Chapter’s Climate Action Committee is planning its second Climate Action Forum in April 2025, an annual convening of professionals from across sectors addressing aspects of the ongoing climate emergency and targeted, actionable strategies for landscape professionals. This FORUM topic will be Nature Based Solutions: Better Infrastructure Integration, addressing nature-based, climate-adaptive planning and design for New York’s waterfronts in the face of climate change. Subtopics for landscape architects include understanding current initiatives, resources, and strategies that can impact the design of urban waterfronts given our changing climate.
Speaker & Session Information:
Panel 1: Natural & Nature-Based Features (NNBF): What, how, and why?
Kyle McKay
Kyle McKay, Ph.D, P.E., is adjunct faculty with the University of Georgia and Brooklyn College. Dr. McKay has 18 years experience as a researcher working on integrated water resource management, urban ecosystem restoration, nature-based solutions, and ecological model development. Dr. McKay holds a BS in environmental engineering from Colorado State, an MS in civil engineering from University of Illinois, and a PhD in ecology from the University of Georgia. Dr. McKay is a licensed civil engineer in the State of Georgia.
Rebecca Pryor
Rebecca Pryor (she/they) is a community gardener, river enthusiast, environmental justice advocate, and Executive Director for Guardians of Flushing Bay. In their role at GoFB, Rebecca implements a community-based vision of Flushing Waterways, builds community power for land use equity, and oversees community science and stewardship programs. She serves on the leadership committee of the Partners for Parks and Open Space and as a board member for North Brooklyn Community Boat House. Previous to GoFB, Rebecca has served in advocacy and engagement roles with Riverkeeper, Bronx River Alliance, and North Brooklyn Community Boat House. Rebecca has an M.S. in Community Planning from Pratt Institute.
Gena Morgis
Gena Morgis is an Associate and Landscape Architect at SCAPE Landscape Architecture. Her project work has spanned the Atlantic and Pacific coasts with a focus on designing adaptive environments where social, ecological, and infrastructural systems work in reciprocity. Gena has a particular interest in multidisciplinary collaboration and developing projects across scales from large scale resilience frameworks to site scale coastal edges. She holds a BLA from SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry and an MLA from the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University.
Panel 2: Implementing Living Shorelines in NYC: Lessons from the field
Rebecca Swadek, New York City Dept of Parks and Restoration Natural Resources
Rebecca Swadek is the Director of Wetlands Management at NYC Parks where she oversees an interdisciplinary team focused on protecting and managing the streams, rivers, lakes, and wetlands on NYC’s parkland. She has over 15 years of experience ranging from plant taxonomy to ecological restoration, green roofs, and land management in Texas, California, and New York. She holds a master’s degree in environmental science from Texas Christian University and a bachelor’s degree in biology from Texas A&M University.
Nicholas Parisi
Nicholas Parisi is a senior project manager at eDesign Dynamics, an industry-leading environmental engineering and planning firm specializing in habitat restoration, ecological masterplanning and resilience planning and design. Through his 8+ years of design and implementation experience, Parisi has been able to contribute to ecological designs at all scales – from the research and design of NYC bioswales to the design and construction of the first successful saltmarsh restoration on Manhattan’s west side at Gansevoort Peninsula. Nicholas has led the habitat assessment and masterplanning at regional park scales such as Sojourner Truth State Park, as well as nation-wide climate adaptation designs for islands throughout the Caribbean. Nicholas holds a B.S. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Cornell University with a concentration in Water Resource Engineering, and a Masters in Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning with a concentration in Urban Design from the University of Pennsylvania School of Design.
Jason Smith New York Restoration Project
Jason Smith works in the New York City landscape as both a painter and caretaker of public spaces. He spends a good deal of time in Inwood in Northern Manhattan with plants and soil, wading in the Harlem River, and picking up litter. He loves to work collaboratively on urban ecosystem research and stewardship. Recent writing on forest restoration, urban soils, and shoreline social dynamics can be found in Cities and the Environment, Restoration Ecology, and Urban Ecosystems. As the director of Northern Manhattan Parks for the New York Restoration Project, Jason leads a team focused on park stewardship and implementing projects that enhance the resilience of Northern Manhattan communities. Jason received an MFA from SUNY Buffalo and an MS in Environmental Science from Brooklyn College. He taught studio art at SUNY Buffalo and Canisius College prior to moving to the New York Restoration Project.
Panel 3: Overcoming barriers to NNBF Implementation: policy considerations & perspectives
Terry Doss
Terry Doss, CERP, is a restoration ecologist who serves as Co-Director and Chief Restoration Scientist for the Meadowlands Research & Restoration Institute of the New Jersey Sport and Exposition Authority. Over the past 35 years, Terry has served as a local leader in restoring the natural areas located within the urban wildlands of New York and New Jersey, with a primary expertise in managing coastal and wetland restoration projects using nature-based solutions to reduce flood risks while improving resiliency for coastal communities. Terry also serves on NJ’s Natural Resource Restoration Advisory Council, the NJ Interagency Advisory Council on Climate Resilience, the NY-NJ Harbor and Estuary Program’s Restoration Working Group, and is on the Board of Director’s for the NJ Coastal Resilience Collaborative and NY-NJ Baykeeper. Terry received a BS in Agricultural Sciences – Natural Resources Economics and a Master of Marine Policy, both from the University of Delaware, and studied Earth Sciences as part of a PhD program at Lehigh University
Daniell Bissett
Danielle Bissett is a Certified Ecological Restoration Practitioner with 10 years of experience planning, designing, permitting, constructing, and monitoring ecological restoration projects in New York City. In her current position as the Restoration Permitting Policy Lead for EPIC, Danielle applies her extensive professional experience as a practitioner to streamline environmental permitting and policies for ecological restoration projects. Before joining EPIC, Danielle managed and oversaw a diverse portfolio of restoration projects and initiatives throughout New York City with the Billion Oyster Project and before that, NYC Parks’ Natural Resources Group. Danielle holds a Master of Science in Environmental Policy from Bard College’s Center for Environmental Policy and a dual Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Studies and Anthropology from Adelphi University.
Joseph Sutkowi
Joseph Sutkowi, WEDG, is the Chief Waterfront Design Officer at the Waterfront Alliance. Joseph leads the WEDG® (Waterfront Edge Design Guidelines) program and oversees Waterfront Alliance’s resilience planning project in Flushing Meadows Corona Park. He brings significant experience in ports, offshore wind, climate resilience planning, economic development policy, and infrastructure. Previously, Joseph was a senior consultant at Karp Strategies, a New York City-based urban planning and economic development consulting firm where he led projects in infrastructure, real estate development, and sustainability. Joseph resides in Queens, New York. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in public policy from the University of Michigan and a Master’s of Public Administration from New York University’s Wagner School. Joseph is a member of the Urban Land Institute’s New York City Infrastructure Product Council, an Advisory Board Member for the National Working Waterfront Network, and a member of Green Marine’s North Atlantic Council.
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