In addition to the Group Health Challenge, riders competed for fame and glory in the internal office competition. Four teams, Uno, Dos, Tres, and Cuatro battled for a year’s worth of bragging rights and heckling privileges. Congratulations to all riders! Here are results:

Overall Winning Team: Herrera Uno (1,816 miles)
Top Rider: Andy Behnke (387.6 miles)
Bikers with 100% Ridership: Rob Zisette, David Yu, Dylan Ahearn, Natalya Tonkikh, Jeryl Kolb, Katheryn Seckel, Regina Sparano, Mary Larkin, and Kris Lepine.
New Bike Commuters: Marleen Arenivar (174 miles) and Natalya Tonkikh (166 miles)

HSS is the solution to your staffing needs.

We provide trained personnel to assist you with increased workload for temporary or long-term assignments. Our services include program management, specialized technical expertise and staffing in a wide range of scientific, information technology and administrative support fields.

Website coming soon…

Qualifications:
You must have a strong command of written English and acute attention to detail. A journalism or publishing background is a plus, as is experience writing or producing content for the web.

Herrera’s Olympia office is located on 4th Avenue, between Puget and Tullis Streets. The office is in a converted house, and the sign in front of the building says “Envirovision.”

Driving directions

From I-5 North:

1. Take exit 105, toward the Port of Olympia
2. From the round-about, take the first right, onto Henderson Blvd.
3. At the first light, take a left onto Plum Street
4. Take a right at 4th Ave
5. Go .3 miles ; we are on the left between Puget and Tullis streets.

From I-5 South:

1. Take exit 105 (b), toward the Port of Olympia
2. Go straight at the light, onto Plum Street.
3. Take a right at 4th Ave
4. Go .3 miles up the hill and we are on the left between Puget and Tullis streets.

Joy Michaud, EnviroVision founder, joins Herrera as a Water Quality Principal and will lead the Olympia office.

“The merging of the two firms is a strong and natural fit. Joy and four of Herrera’s principals attended the same UW graduate program together, and our firms have a long history of partnering on projects,” commented Carlos Herrera, Herrera’s president and founder.

With our new Olympia office, Herrera has five locations including Seattle, Sequim, Portland, and Missoula. Herrera is an employee-owned environmental firm; our 120 employees are committed to working with our clients to develop innovative and sustainable solutions for infrastructure, natural resources, and water resource projects.

• Stormwater management technical guidance manual and policy development
• Low impact development planning and design for residential, commercial/industrial, and municipal clients
• Municipal stormwater program evaluation and development
• Stormwater conveyance system modeling and design
• Drainage basin assessment and modeling
• Stormwater detention and water quality treatment systems design
• General civil site development and design
• Construction site erosion and sediment control planning and design
• Support for watershed analyses and habitat restoration design projects.

Desired Qualifications: B.S.C.E or M.S.C.E degree, at least 5 years relevant experience, proficiency with analytical tools for surface water hydrology analysis and stormwater management systems design, familiarity with various Puget Sound region surface water regulations and technical procedures (Ecology, WSDOT, etc.), excellent writing, teamwork, and verbal communication skills. Project management experience, water quality experience, and business development experience are all considered to be advantageous.

Best in State Gold Awards

Gold award for original or innovative application of new or existing techniques
Winner: Herrera Environmental Consultants
Project: Mashel River Salmon Habitat Restoration
Owner: South Puget Sound Salmon Enhancement Group

In 2004, the Nisqually Indian Tribe released a multispecies management plan for the Nisqually River Basin which identified the Mashel River as being among the highest priority reaches for habitat restoration. The goals were to reconnect the floodplain, bring wood back into the river and protect development while enhancing the river’s salmon production capabilities. The South Puget Sound Salmon Enhancement Group brought in Herrera Environmental Consultants to help find a solution that would encompass mainstream, riparian and off-channel habitats as well as floodplain reconnection. Herrera designed 13 engineered logjam structures to reconnect the river to its floodplain and take advantage of mature existing vegetation. The man-made logjams obstructed the river flow and raised water elevations enough to inundate secondary channels and portions of the floodplain. This was critical in maintaining salmon populations as well as floodplain function and biodiversity.

Qualifications: Skills required include education and/or experience in stormwater and surface water management; civil and environmental engineering; and excellent writing, verbal communication, and presentation skills.

Nearby landmarks include Portland’s Classical Chinese Garden three blocks to the north, the Burnside Bridge one block to the southeast, and Voodoo Doughnuts two blocks to the south. The office is ideally located for public transit–the MAX light rail line is only a block from the office. Just beyond that lay the walking and biking opportunities of Waterfront Park along the Willamette River. Stop by and check out our new digs!

  

Jose Carrasquero

Carla Cassidy

Rob Zisette

Theresa Wood

Herrera Environmental Consultants, Inc. (Herrera) would like to congratulate the following staff and announce their appointment to principal of the firm:

José Carrasquero, Principal Scientist
Carla Cassidy, Marketing Principal
Rob Zisette, Principal Scientist
Theresa Wood, Contracts Principal

Mr. Carrasquero, who is a senior fisheries and marine biologist and ESA expert, will support coastal and fluvial restoration and science efforts. In addition to supporting coastal and fluvial restoration projects, Mr. Carrasquero is currently working on restoration and science projects for the Puget Sound Action Team, Island County, and the South Puget Sound Salmon Enhancement Group.

Ms. Cassidy has 18 years of experience in environmental and engineering marketing in the A&E consultant community. Ms. Cassidy’s responsibilities include business development and serving as liaison between Herrera’s multiple business lines.

Mr. Zisette is a lead aquatic scientist and water quality specialist for surface water assessment and management projects. Mr. Zisette is currently working on microbial source tracking studies of Thornton and Pipers Creeks in Seattle, post-remediation monitoring of the Eagle Harbor Superfund Site on Bainbridge Island, and stormwater BMP effectiveness monitoring programs in Whatcom County.

Ms. Wood serves as a liaison between clients; subconsultants; and technical, management, and financial staff to guide the development of project work plans, cost proposals, project deliverables, and schedules.

Despite the bad weather, more than 1,500 volunteers put in more than 4,500 hours of volunteer time for this year’s Seattle Works Day. Project teams were active all over Seattle, including Commodore Park, Golden Gardens, The Nature Consortium, Discovery Park, Green Lake, and many others. More information about the event and Seattle Work’s future volunteer projects can be found here.

Melissa Buttin

Peter Carr

Karen Poore

Shannon Wadkins

Garrett Wiedmeier

Melissa Buttin joins Herrera as a marketing coordinator. Ms. Buttin brings five years of experience in marketing, writing, and editing; she was previously with KPFF Consulting Engineers.

Peter Carr joins Herrera as a senior technical editor. Mr. Carr brings 17 years of experience in technical editing, public involvement, and natural resources; he was most recently with EDAW.

Karen Poore joins Herrera as a senior administrative assistant, she was previously with Intel Corporation for 10 years. Ms. Poore’s diverse experience includes environmental studies and 4 years on the Pierce County Land Use Advisory Commission.

Shannon Wadkins joins Herrera’s support services group as a senior administrative assistant with 15 years of experience in construction and engineering; she was most recently with URS.

Garrett Wiedmeier joins Herrera as network administrator. Mr. Wiedmeier brings 12 years of IT experience in the design and administration of networks in many platforms; he was previously with the Downtown Seattle Association for 5 years.

Western Wahoo

Herrera’s own Josh Wozniak, natural resource scientist, made an exciting discovery while performing rare plant surveys for WSDOT. In his own words,

“I was fortunate last week to receive an honor that I thought I would never achieve, to find undocumented locations of rare plants. Only a handful of new records for the state come in each year, and rarely in proximity to developed areas, despite ongoing surveys.

During rare plant surveys for WSDOT’s SW region last week, I found populations of two rare plants, Small-Flowered Trillium and Western Wahoo. I happened to be in the right place, at the right time!”

The plants, which were found in Clark County, will be added to a statewide database which is used to advise the design of future projects, as a research tool, and is part of a monitoring program which tracks the changes in these rare plant populations over time.

Tall Bugbane

An update: On June 21st, Josh added Tall Bugbane to his list of finds!

Jan Aarts

Herrera Environmental Consultants welcomes Jan Aarts to our natural resources planning group as a senior environmental planner. Mr. Aarts has more than 20 years of experience leading NEPA/SEPA and permitting work for transportation and other public infrastructure projects. Most recently, Mr. Aarts was with Parsons Brinckeroff. Mr. Aarts’ current projects include the Seattle Department of Transportation South Lander Street Grade Separation and King County Regional Trail System Bridge and Trestle Engineering projects.

Tyson Wright

Tyson Wright

Herrera Environmental Consultants is pleased to announce the addition of Tyson Wright, PE, who joins our firm as a civil engineer. Prior to joining Herrera, Mr. Wright worked for CRW Engineering Group in Anchorage, AK. He specializes in infrastructure design for water, sewer, and storm drain systems; roadways; and site design. Currently, Mr. Wright’s projects include the King County Cedar Hills Regional Landfill Area 6 Closure, the Hoh River Boundary Pond Enhancement project for the US Forest Service and two low-impact development projects for private developers.

Part of Puget Sound Regional Council’s Vision 2020 Plan and winner of the Joint Sustainability Award from the American Planning Association, the new Chief Sealth Trail connects to an existing system of streets and sidewalks to form a multi-use pedestrian and cyclist trail stretching 3.6 miles from S Gazelle to S Dawson Street. Herrera was contracted by the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) in 2004 to assist with environmental compliance, technical review, and scoping. Specifically, Herrera helped complete an addendum to the existing Environmental Impact Statement; that allowed SDOT to use soil excavated from Sound Transit’s Central Link Project in the Beacon Hill neighborhood for construction of the Chief Sealth Trail. Herrera coordinated their efforts with Sound Transit and managed to complete the process in just two months. As a result, SDOT was able to use most of the soil from the Beacon Hill site at no additional cost to the city.

The Chief Sealth Trail’s winding path was designed to avoid affecting local wetlands and their buffers. Herrera assisted SDOT with delineating wetlands along the entire length of the trail to ensure their protection. The soil procured through Herrera’s permitting work with Sound Transit was used to reduce slopes along the trail while avoiding these sensitive areas.