Drew Goetting, Founding Principal

Drew Goetting has over fifteen years of experience designing and managing stream restoration projects.  He has worked extensively with complex teams of scientists, resource managers, regulatory agencies, and private property owners to achieve multi-objective restoration projects.  His work focuses on the technical aspects of fluvial geomorphology, flood control, and native riparian vegetation.  Mr. Goetting also brings significant expertise in public process facilitation and has conducted numerous community-based planning processes for local, state, and federal agencies.  As a leader in the field of environmental restoration, he bridges the gap between public policy, technical stream dynamics, and local community interests.  His background is in plant ecology, natural resource management, community and regional development, and landscape architecture.  He is an appointed member of the City of Berkeley's Creeks Task Force, charged with reviewing and recommending revisions to policies and ordinances related to urban creeks, and is a frequent guest lecturer on restoration.

Robert Birkeland, ASLA, Principal Landscape Architect

With over twenty years of public sector landscape architectural design experience, Mr. Birkeland brings a significant portfolio of designed and built works to RDG.  He has a broad range of civic design experience including the design and construction of public parks, waterfronts, urban streets, gateways, wayfinding systems, plazas, fountains, trails, bicycle and pedestrian facilities, and public housing.  Many of his civic designs have included artist teams, and as project designer his charge has been to integrate fine art expression into landscape architectural form.  Mr.  Birkeland’s project design experience has spanned the West, including Washington, California, and Utah, where he completed a series of Olympic Legacy designs for the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. Locally, Mr. Birkeland was the lead designer of the entry sequence and site design for the new Oakland International Airport, the Richmond Transit Center, and a series of public waterfront improvements on the Bay Trail along the Oakland Estuary. Mr. Birkeland oversees the Restoration Design Group’s project management and design.

Rich Walkling, MLA, Planning Director/Business ManagerR,

Rich Walkling is trained as an environmental planner with a master’s degree in landscape architecture and a bachelor’s degree in natural resources.  Mr. Walkling has managed watershed and estuarine projects in California, the Great Lakes basin, and southern Africa.  He has designed restoration plans for streams in California and for subsided islands in the Sacramento-San Joaquin delta.  He has worked as a GIS analyst for USEPA-directed risk assessments and on USAID-funded environmental health projects in Latin America.  Mr. Walkling is a recipient of a Geraldine Knight-Scott Fellowship to travel around the world and study human adaptations to floods.

Erik Stromberg, ASLA, Restoration Director

Erik Stromberg is a landscape architect with a master’s degree in landscape architecture and a bachelor’s degree in biology.  At RDG, Mr. Stromberg brings together his expertise in science and design, focusing on the interaction between ecological and social processes within the built environment.  Mr. Stromberg orchestrates our collaboration with consulting scientists and leads RDG’s stream restoration work and graphic production. He has taught graduate level courses in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Computers in Landscape Architecture.  His technical expertise in fluvial geomorphology and computer applications in design and restoration work is instrumental to the firm. 

Jeanine Strickland, ASLA

Jeanine Strickland is a landscape architect specializing in environmental planning, site design, and restoration.  Ms. Strickland has worked for over ten years with public and private clients and community interest groups to develop master plans and construction documents.  Her portfolio encompasses public parks, children’s play environments, creek and wetland restoration, urban forestry, historic landscape preservation, healing landscapes, public housing and residential work.  Ms. Strickland has managed complex, multi-disciplinary teams of consultants in challenging community participation settings.  She is adept at site design, project meeting facilitation, illustrative presentations, and preparation of construction documents.  Her experience includes facilitating clients and community groups in environmentally responsible design practices, watershed planning, energy-efficiency (LEED), bioengineering techniques, and urban forestry. 

Peter Rohan, BLA

Peter Rohan brings fifteen years experience in landscape construction and ten years experience in design and drafting to Restoration Design Group. His expertise lies in efficiently developing clear construction documents and identifying solutions to unforeseen challenges during construction. Prior to RDG, he ran his own landscape design firm, designing and building Bay Friendly landscapes for private clients. 

Roger Leventhal, P.E. - Affiliated Staff

Roger Leventhal has over twenty years of experience in the design, permitting, and installation of creek and wetlands restoration projects throughout the Bay Area.  Using geomorphology and applied hydraulic analysis, Mr. Leventhal designs restoration projects that combine habitat, flood protection, and traditional engineering goals. As a licensed civil engineer, he has prepared numerous restoration plans and has specialized expertise in constructability issues.  Mr. Leventhal is an appointed member of the Bay Conservation and Development Commission Design Review Board, providing guidance on engineering design and construction in ecologically sensitive areas within the San Francisco Bay, and is a member of the San Francisco Estuary Project Wetlands Design Review Group charged with reviewing the technical aspects of wetland restoration projects in the Bay Area. In addition to his role at RDG, Mr. Leventhal maintains a restoration engineering consulting practice, Farwest Restoration Engineering