Wendi Goldsmith
Wendi Goldsmith is President and founder of The Bioengineering Group. Her diverse background spans geology, plant and soil science, ecological planning, water quality management, and river restoration design. She strives to put the latest research into practice on a range of project types. To her, every project is an opportunity to transact restoration of one or more elements of landscape-scale ecosystem function. In her career, Wendi has not shied away from being a bit iconoclastic to enact change, either. She has reached across boundaries of technical disciplines, historic antagonisms, institutional habits, and regional/national knowledge in order foster greater resource stewardship. Her success in this area has caused many to regard her approach as nothing short of visionary.
Having established the Bioengineering Group in 1992, Wendi has enjoyed the benefit of pursuing and leading others into some of the most progressive and creative ecological restoration work during a period of major technical and policy development. “I am proud to look back and see so many ‘firsts’ where our efforts helped introduce unfamiliar yet viable methods to large agencies and geographic regions. I can understand why larger organizations were reluctant to innovate in many situations, but we were small enough to try things others couldn’t get their management to accept. We learned a lot along the way and so did our clients. Of course, it helped that we were always rigorous as well as creative so we have never experienced major failures of any kind.” Wendi led the firm in its early years to perform research and development contracts, training programs, and design work for an impressive group of clients for a new company doing environmental work: US Army Corps of Engineers, US Environmental Protection Agency, National Parks Service to name a few. “I’m proud that we were able to build a solid foundation of technical documentation and effective working relationships based on trust that have endured to this day”
Wendi started playing in the dirt at an early age, altering the flow of small streams, and drawing little maps of the whereabouts of salamanders, fish, and other creatures in the urban and rural environments she knew well. Her exploration of the natural world deepened through academic training, but her elemental curiosity and passion for understanding and aiding natural patterns and processes have always been her guide, frequently leading her off the beaten path. Today, she uses her own children as the litmus test for project work, “If they can’t understand it, or don’t care about it, then who will? They continually amaze me with their observations and responses when I talk with them about our projects. It always reminds me to stick to basics and to resonate with peoples’ emotional connection to nature.”
During her college years at Yale studying Geology and Geophysics as well as Environmental Science, Wendi had the opportunity to work with research teams at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest in NH. “These scientists were the ones who identified that acid rain really existed. They knew everything about how the watersheds had been working for many decades. But what amazed me most was when they shared how, at first, they could not imagine their acid rain findings were true! I realized then how some of the environmental damage we cause is larger than even the smartest can grasp.” Rather than pursuing an academic research and teaching career path, Wendi decided she would follow a track that would help foster implementation of existing science knowledge in construction practices.
Seeking practical experience after college, Wendi worked in a small planning and design firm where she learned firsthand how architects, engineers, scientists, and landscape architects interacted in the daily grind of project work for institutional and developer clients. “My colleagues taught me a lot, and I respected their work, but I also saw many ways that the team simply did not understand how to collaborate to achieve the best results for the natural environment. In our discussions, I learned that was not part of typical training, nor was it a goal of most clients.” In response, she changed her grad school plans and chose to pursue a Master’s Degree in ecological landscape design at the Conway School. “The stewardship ethic permeates their detailed training in planning and design. The school is tiny but I am in awe of its powerful program.” After further work experience with a large engineering firm in Boston, Wendi determined that some specialized technical training would serve her stewardship goals best, and she again sought out a less conventional educational venue.
Recognizing Germany as a hotbed for “green technology” at the time, Wendi was pleased to accept an apprenticeship position to the eminent hydraulic engineer, Mr. Lothar Bestmann. Her training focused on the planning, analysis, design, and construction of small stream, large river, and shoreline type projects. “Working on projects in former East Germany opened up my eyes to how applied ecology solutions can address many key environmental problems simultaneously. Interacting with people that lived in these destroyed landscapes gave me a perspective on resource restoration and management that I pledged to embrace —this work is not trivial or optional, and should not been seen that way. And the standards and practices in the rest of Germany were sophisticated and effective in ways the US is just starting to emulate.” Wendi returned from Germany with a wealth of experience gained in concentrated doses, ready to ply her skills at home.
“Running my own business was never really the plan. But, I was raring to sell my newly acquired talents and there was no other firm quite doing this kind of work in the US yet, so setting up my own shop seemed like the thing to do. I was surprised to find how much I enjoyed the challenges of working with people, managing schedules and budgets, and generally facilitating growth for the firm and its people.” Wendi recognizes that the firm’s 15 years of success depended upon others, namely the mentorship she received from key business affiliates, the dedication from a talented team of colleagues, and the good fortune of having a receptive and motivated set of clients. She has watched with pride as an evolving team of staff has worked to build the strong interdisciplinary practice that is the hallmark of the Bioengineering Group’s approach to projects. “You can literally feel the level of commitment and concern we all bring to our work. What unites us as a group is our shared passion and sense of calling to manage projects to foster sustainable land use practices—that keeps us going when the stress level is high.” She is looking forward to seeing what the coming years will bring in terms of further evolution of the company.
Wendi points out that innovation demands continual learning, and she sees that as a core value for all involved in pushing the technical envelope. She encourages others to learn, and also keeps the pressure on herself. “I am drawn to education. I took a few ongoing classes just to satisfy my need to understand more detail, then I realized there were some data gaps in our field that someone needed to fill through targeted research activity. Next thing I knew I was fulfilling degree requirements for my MS!” Wendi completed a second Master’s in Plant and Soil Science at UMass and her thesis on Soil Strength Reinforcement by Plants won the Distinguished Paper of the Year from the International Erosion Control Society.
Wendi believes that a special way to learn is through teaching, pressing herself to update and expand her own skills and knowledge in preparation for training through professional associations, universities, and government agencies where she frequently is asked to present. She gains great insight through the questions and challenges shared by her audiences. “I like to give back something similar to what I received, and frankly we all gain so much from exchanging ideas with budding professionals from Europe, Asia, Latin America, and New Zealand. The fresh perspectives also keep us all thinking outside our box, like we should.” For over 12 years, the Bioengineering Group has maintained an active internship program for US and foreign trainees and has hosted numerous governmentally sponsored international technical exchange representatives. “The array of professional contacts, not to mention friends that have come from this, is a rich resource that provides continual inspiration.”
You don’t have to spend much time with Wendi to realize she approaches her work with intensity and fervor. She is always moving towards a new goal. “People have asked me how I decided to focus on ecological restoration and sustainable design, and all I can say is that I have consistently followed my interests and my conscience—I did what seemed right for me, and for larger communities. I never tried to predict a trend.” She earnestly believes that projects succeed best when the team is motivated by a worthy shared vision, supported by an inclusive process for interaction. In 1999, Wendi led the establishment of a non-profit organization, the Center for Urban Watershed Renewal (CUWR- pronounced “cure”), a 501c(3) charitable foundation dedicated to promoting ecological stewardship in the most degraded and impacted urban areas, including contaminated and abandoned sites. Since its founding, CUWR has brought about the conservation, restoration, and re-use of over 60,000 acres of land, working with a diverse array of federal and state agencies and other non-profits from New England to the West Coast.
“When I recently participated in an expedition to perform an aerial and ground study comparing the Lewis and Clark findings with current environmental conditions, some people thought I was crazy to take a vacation that seemed like my job. I am delighted that my work is so enjoyable and fulfilling – it’s truly a labor of love.” Apart from her professional activities, Wendi is a single parent who still finds time to pursue horseback riding, singing, gardening, and various community activities. She recently completed a major restoration of her 206-year-old home in Salem, MA, where she lives with her two children. Although she travels aplenty on the job, in her free time Wendi enjoys travel to interesting cities as well as camping and hiking in her favorite natural places. She brings her children to the rivers, lakes, parks, and campuses she has worked on to check on their progress and shares with them what Mom is busy doing all the time. Nothing in her life ever felt better than hearing her 10-year-old daughter ask to learn all she needed to know in order to have the same career as her Mom.