Nancy O. Spanovich, CWD, RRFac

Nancy grew up in a period of unrest in our country. As a youngest child in a family of seven, she excelled and found solace in singing and playing wind instruments in small ensembles and never pictured herself following in her ancestor’s footsteps. One night, while finishing her music major in college, she slept under the stars in a conifer forest, a giant tree spoke to her, and she began to ponder how biological systems thrive.  The outdoors challenged her to combine her passion for the arts and sciences to protect and restore our natural resources. Subsequently, she gained additional degrees in molecular biology, chemistry and resource management, conducted research in plant stress physiology, wetland functions and values, resource economics and ecosystem services.  Her first field assignment was as rare plant biologist in the Pacific Northwest working on hydropower licenses and she then became the supervisor for fish, vegetation, and wildlife field crews across dozens of ecosystems within nine western states and the Pacific Rim. Projects under her command were transportation, water or electrical infrastructure; major land and resort developments; and individual or community natural resource plans.

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As a direct descendant of the "father of landscape architecture", Nancy believes in putting energy back into the earth to lift people up. Becoming a Revitalization & Resilience Facilitator (RRFac) certified by the RECONOMICS Institute was a perfect next step.

 

In 2021, as an RRFacilitator, Nancy earned the world’s first macro-credential, a strategy for restoring ecology, equity, and economics and understanding how the natural and social pieces of a project fit together and advance toward a common goal.

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"Working with this enlightened group of RRFac-practitioners across the globe is exciting.  We continually challenge our clients to find ways to repurpose, renew, and reconnect the natural, built, and socioeconomic assets for the benefit of all."

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RECONOMICS Institute founded by Storm Cunningham has taken a theory, evolved from years of research in processes and the science of urban design, to a practice that provides a framework for communities to become more resilient and revitalized.

 

With 30+ years of experience leading environmental analysis and mitigation planning efforts for natural systems in nine states and overseas, Nancy integrates design features to improve livability and social equity while protecting the environment. She has a passion for implementing community benefit livability aspects of infrastructure projects to consider context, social cohesion, and public health and wealth of urban environments.

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Nancy thrives when she helps restore and protect ecosystems on projects such as the Trillium Primary School wetland headwater restoration and environmental mitigation site; the Kealia Pond Visitor Interpretive Center in Maui, Hawaii; the Highway 101 improvement project in northern Idaho, as a collaboration with the Nez Perce tribes and a large geotechnical and special species team and rural landowners; the Gresham Springwater Community Plan, the first-ever automated resource mapping system for the City’s planning department  and environmentally sensitive resource area codification; and the Albina Highway Covers assessment team, designing facilities that enhance and restore historic neighborhood assets and rebuild community cohesion.

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She is absolutely giddy rafting the Grand Canyon or with her husband and adult children, outdoors connecting with others in the natural environment, or experiencing a “coming together” about how nature nurtures humans and how resilience comes from a vision and strategy to pursue it.

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