
Emily Morton
Designer
Emily joined Nelson Byrd Woltz in 2025. She holds a Master of Landscape Architecture from the University of Minnesota (2024), where she received an ALSA Certificate of Merit. Her graduate work centered around industrial infrastructures, working landscapes, and the study of novel ecosystems. She received the Minnesota ASLA Student Merit Award and a CELA Creative Scholarship Award of Excellence for her academic project designing the decommissioning process of lock & dams on the Upper Mississippi River and subsequent implementation of nature-based riverine infrastructures.
Emily’s graduate capstone research and design considered the integration of historic iron ore mining landscapes with regenerative ecological and economic futures on Northern Minnesota’s Mesabi Iron Range. During her time at the University of Minnesota she worked as a research assistant for the Great Lakes Design Labs designing and documenting prescribed burn practices in old-growth forest ecosystems in Northern Minnesota. She also holds an Honors Bachelor of Arts in Architectural Design and Visual Studies from the University of Toronto. Her professional experience includes public and private project work at SWA Group and the design of stormwater systems with a focus on urban ecology at a Minnesota-based design-build firm.