Bio
Mr. Joe Howard is a licensed landscape architect in California and principal in Integral’s San Francisco Bay Area office with three decades of experience. He built the firm’s landscape architecture studio. He applies design abilities, facilitation skills, strong ecological background, and hands-on knowledge of project construction to help clients address complex ecological challenges Mr. Howard helps identify and resolve ecological concerns during the early stages of site design and planning and specializes in devising solutions to complex issues and incorporating them in intelligent planning and construction documents.
Mr. Howard has worked on design and construction projects—including park, trail, and habitat restoration sites— in the San Francisco Bay Area; in the Central Valley; the San Joaquin, American, Sacramento, Shasta, and Salinas River watersheds; in the Lake Tahoe Basin; and along the central and northern California coast, and in Hawaii. He is well versed in the creation of natural habitats and skillfully designs elegant human spaces where nature and people coexist.
Prior to joining Integral Consulting, Mr. Howard was a principal and vice president at H. T. Harvey & Associates, where he worked for 24 years.
Relevant Experience
Parks and Trails
Bay Rise Park, Burlingame, California — Serves as principal-in-charge for a new 9-acre waterfront nature-based park and education center with an emphasis on sea level rise and climate change. Park features include a section of the San Francico Bay Trail and water access with a new stop on the Water Trail. H. T. Harvey led efforts to receive State Lands Commission approval, develop feasibility and concept studies, ran public outreach and coordinated with stakeholders. The team is preparing regulatory agency permits and preparing construction documents.
City of San Jose’s Park and Trail Projects, San Jose, California — As principal, leads H. T. Harvey’s on-call effort. This work includes leading community involvement, park and habitat restoration planning at Guadalupe Oak Grove Park, and a citywide effort to catalog, track, redesign, maintain, and report on the City’s habitat mitigation obligations related to several of their park and trail projects.
Charleston Retention Basin Trail and Habitat Improvement Project, Mountain View, California — Served as principal-in-charge and landscape architect of record for the project, a public-private effort to improve circulation around and across the Charleston retention basin while enhancing and restoring oak woodland and riparian habitat. Project involved preparation of detailed construction documents, and providing construction-period support. Facilitated the design, community input, the City/Google’s relationship, and the permit preparation and approval process. The project included a separated pedestrian and bicycle facility–including bridges, boardwalks, and an educational ecological interpretive program, as well as habitat restoration and marsh creation to enhance the habitats of a number of sensitive species.
Hal Brown Creekside Park Project, Kentfield, California — Served as landscape architect of record and project manager for the master planning, design, and production of construction documents. The project included landscape architectural construction documents (plans, specifications, and estimate of probable cost) for the habitat restoration areas and the landscape habitat buffer components of the park design.
Farm Park and Community Center Project, Santa Cruz, California — Served as principal-in-charge and landscape architect of record. This project included master planning, the design and restoration of the riparian corridor, and development of a trailhead and community garden and incorporation of public art, all based around the concept of interpretation of the local habitats, restoration activities, and sustainability.
Green Loop Bike and Pedestrian Corridor, Mountain View, California — Served as principal-in-charge and landscape architect of record. This project created a separated bike and pedestrian mid-block thoroughfare which spanned several city blocks, feeding users onto the path at each intersection. It also included a unique public-private effort to improve circulation and access through a City park and natural area. The project included pedestrian and bicycle improvements, storm water management, and habitat restoration and ecological enhancements for urban wildlife.
Bay Conservation and Development Commission Bay Trail, Menlo Park, California — Served as principal-in-charge and landscape architect of record. This work included improvements to user experience along nearly 1 mile of the Bay Trail, in-campus improvements, and regional connections providing safe and legible transportation design for people who bike, walk, drive, and take buses and shuttles. The project included the use of sustainable materials, storm water capture, pervious paving, native planting, and ecological design to support urban wildlife habitats.
Laurelwood Park and Sugarloaf Mountain Open Space Project, San Mateo, California — Served as principal-and project manager for development of the management and master plans, and subsequently assisted with implementation of master plan elements, such as trail layout in biologically sensitive areas and habitat restoration for the City of San Mateo.
Sunnyvale District Mechanical Utility Plant, Sunnyvale, California — Served as principal-in-charge landscape architect of record for the project, which showcases a unique array of public spaces, decks and boardwalks and artwork among a landscape consisting of regionally appropriate native low water demanding plants. Special care was given to frame views and create a connection to the adjacent open space and strategic selection and placement of trees to help diminish the large scale of the plant’s cooling towers. This project was completed as a design build contract.
Alta/Huff Lot Garage/Green Loop/Streetscape, Mountain View, California — Served as principal-in-charge and landscape architect of record. This project consisted of a parking garage designed for a second life conversion to office space and ground floor public spaces including decks, promenades, connections to the multi-use Green Loop trail system, and incorporation of public art. Upon completion of the early stages of design, H. T. Harvey continued to lead the landscape architecture elements through the client’s and contractor’s design build process.
Ecological Restoration
East Contra Costa Restoration, Contra Costa County, California — Served as landscape architect of record and provided senior oversight for East Contra Costa County Habitat Conservancy during the preparation of restoration plans, wetland delineations, permitting, construction documentation and construction oversight for a number of projects covering hundreds of acres. Projects included alkali and seasonal wetland restoration, in-stream and riparian habitats, and breeding and aestivation habitat for California red-legged frog (CRLF) and California tiger salamander (CTS).
Upper Llagas Creek Flood Protection Project, Morgan Hill, California — Served as the lead design and landscape architect of record, and provided senior oversight for a joint Santa Clara Valley Water District /USACE project. This work included habitat restoration design of approximately 11.5 miles of creek, restoring 108 acres of riparian habitat and a 4-acre wetland complex. Project included preparation of plans, specifications, and estimates for the habitat restoration.
San Francisco Public Utilities Commission Water System Improvement Project, San Francisco County, California — Served as landscape architect of record and provided senior oversight for the project in the Peninsula Watershed, including MMP and PSE development for 5 mitigation sites for the creation of 9 acres of wetland, 1 acre of oak woodland, and 8.5 acres of scrub habitat.
Pacheco Creek Reserve Restoration Project, Santa Clara County, California — Serves as principal, design lead, and landscape architecture of record for the project for the Santa Clara Valley Habitat Agency. The purpose of the project is to create, enhance, and restore stream channel, willow and mixed riparian, California sycamore alluvial woodland, freshwater pond, and seasonal wetland habitats. Developed construction documents, including plans, specs, and estimates; provided bid support; and provides construction oversight.
Sunnyvale West Channel Project, Santa Clara County, California — Serves as principal-in-charge for the project, which brought together the Santa Clara Valley Water District, the City of Sunnyvale, environmental NGO’s, and private development to match the needs of each. Helped envision the project and broker multiple party negotiations to expand a planned narrow rock lined flood channel to a 300-foot-wide riparian system with floodplains. The project achieved the flood control levels and additional habitat mitigation desired by the water district, provided the trails and public access desired by the City, and met the aesthetic, ecological, and public access goals of the private development.
Bolinas Eucalyptus Project, Bolinas, California — Served as principal in charge for the project. Helped steer the community and Bolinas Public Utility District through the feasibility, design, local coastal permit issues, primarily related to an Environmentally Sensitive Habitat Area (ESHA) for the monarch butterfly, and County of Marin permit applications for the removal of a eucalyptus grove which poses treats to critical infrastructure and public safety.
Education & Credentials
Highlights
30 years of experience
Landscape architecture
Trail and open space design
Habitat restoration design
Management of complex multistakeholder projects
Community and regulator engagement
Education & Credentials
M.L.A., Landscape Architecture, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1997
B.S., Natural Resources Landscape Design and Planning, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1996
Registered Landscape Architect: CA #4598
Professional Experience
Principal and vice president, H. T. Harvey & Associates, 2002–July 2026
Principal, JMH Design, 2000–2002
Associate, Danadjieva & Koenig Associates, 1999–2000
Project manager, Merrill + Befu Associates, 1997–1999
Professional Affiliations
American Society of Landscape Architects