Dan Collins works in ecological restoration design, planning, implementation and management with Nancy Aten. Their firm, Landscapes of Place, received an international award – a 2011 Honor Award from the American Society of Landscape Architects – for landscape restoration design in Milwaukee’s Menomonee River Valley. Dan and Nancy devote a significant portion of their time to the wetlands they love best: a 30-acre wetland complex in Door County. They have together logged over 1800 field restoration hours here themselves, transforming near monocultures of reed canary grass into bio-diverse ash swamp, sedge meadow and shrub carr. Nancy and Dan have provided pro bono planning and match hours for a Landowner Incentive Program grant, a State Wildlife Grant, and most recently a Wisconsin Coastal Management grant. This most recent project is a Conservation Master Plan for the 4200-acre Bay Shore Blufflands State Natural Area and its wetlands. They extend their impact as board members, hike leaders, informal educators, and through public speaking.
Dan and Nancy are recipients of a 2014 Wisconsin Wetlands Association’s Wetlands Award.