As the director of the Massachusetts Wetlands Restoration Program, Foote- Smith has helped develop hundreds of regional wetland restoration projects by creating a variety of programs, writing grants and newsletters and conducting fieldwork. In 1999, she collaborated with government and business representatives to establish the first Corporate Wetlands Restoration Partnership, which funneled $1 million in donations to Massachusetts’ restoration projects.

Bringing together local, state and federal agencies, non-profits, businesses, academics and landowners for the common goal of proactively restoring wetlands has been the greatest pleasure of my career, Foote-Smith says.