Connie Fortin and Kyra Oliver join me for a BONUS episode of Minnesota Gardening Podcast to talk all about Winter Design and efforts to reduce salt use and water pollution.

Connie Fortin has been working for 20 years with winter maintenance professionals trying to reduce salt by integrating science into winter maintenance. Now she finds herself in an engineering firm, Bolton & Menk, working to integrate low salt concepts into infrastructure design. Improved winter design is the most cost-effective way to get on top of the chloride problem and she is energized to share this new strategy. 

Kyra Oliver is a Water Resources Design Engineer at Bolton & Menk with a background in Landscape Architecture.  She began her career at a landscape design and build firm, with a focus in native plantings and rain garden design, construction, and maintenance.  In 2019, she earned a master degree in water resources engineering and now works to improve the health of the environment in urban areas by bringing water resources, landscape architecture, and natural resources together to create quality solutions.  She has gained experience in stormwater management in rain gardens, grading, vegetation, GIS mapping, site assessment, design, and construction documents.