Association of Environmental Professionals | San Diego Chapter
summer 2020
I want to take this opportunity to reflect on the inaugural San Diego AEP Book Club discussion and promote the upcoming third quarter Book Club virtual gathering! Reading Erik Larson’s Devil in the White City transported me back to the late 1890s and provided such a vivid escape into a time and place that was equal parts exciting and terrifying. I found the exciting emergence of American urban planning and architecture juxtaposed with the sinister specter of the rampant murders surrounding the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair intensely fascinating. I really enjoyed sharing my impressions of Larson’s storytelling with my fellow book club participants! Corinne, our wonderful book club discussion leader, provided thought-provoking and insightful prompts for us to expand upon our understanding and views of the events described in the book. I found the personal anecdotes and experiences surrounding Chicago, the World’s Fair, true crime, and urban planning really added to my enjoyment of the book discussion! A couple of my fellow book club participants provided their impressions of our first discussion: “I really enjoyed SD AEP's first "virtual" book club discussion. Not just because this book was one I had already read, or because I was born in Chicago and didn't know some of this stuff until I read the book, but because of the fun twist that Corinne added to the event by creating questions about something or someone in book, back to the Planning discipline. That twist made the discussion more interesting and it gave us all an opportunity to think about what or how we would do it different from a planning perspective, by applying the good principals of planning; the good and the bad actions of the main characters verses the light and dark contrasts of the events leading up to the opening of the fair. I came away from this discussion with a slightly different idea about the "White City" and the events that made headlines, so I plan to re-read the book again so I can key in on things that I guess I missed the first time around.” –Myra Herrmann City of San Diego Planning Department “The first book club meeting was a great way to meet new people in AEP who share my love for reading! We had a very insightful discussion that hit on connections to our professions, the environment, as well as personal experiences. The varied perspectives of the group really helped open my eyes to different interpretations of the story. I will definitely be attending the next one!” –Libby Fortin Chambers Group and San Diego AEP VP of Programs I invite you to join us for our third quarter Book Club discussion of Ta-Hehisi Coates’ Between the World and Me, an exploration of America’s history with race, what it is like to inhabit a black body throughout the country’s reckoning with racial inequities, and how we can free ourselves from its burden. I am very proud of San Diego AEP’s commitment to using our platform to elevate Black voices through our programming, book club, partnerships, and upcoming Awards and Scholarship Event. I am very excited to read and discuss Ta-Hehisi Coates’ book with other AEP members in September! See you there!
MESSAGE FROM THE BOARD BY KATIE LAYBOURN, HARRIS & ASSOCIATES
ENVIRONMENTOR
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MESSAGE FROM THE BOARD (CONTINUED)
THE ENVIRONMENTOR, SUMMER 2020 | {{page}}
UPCOMING events
2020 AEP CONFERENCE UPDATE Due to COVID-19, the 2020 AEP State Conference is going virtual! The conference will take place November 8-11, 2020. All sessions will still be offered, and the exhibit hall and sponsor recognition will also happen virtually. Additionally, attendees will have access to session recordings and handouts. AICP and MCLE credits will still be offered for the conference.
MEMBERSHIP APPRECIATION EVENT Thursday, September 3 | 5:00-6:30 pm Join us for this year's Membership Appreciation virtual happy hour! We will be playing Jackbox's Quiplash, a battle of wits and wittiness! Register and receive a fun celebratory item so that we can "cheers" together and celebrate what makes AEP so awesome - ITS MEMBERS! Event is FREE to members. To register, click here. Have any questions or want additional information? Contact VP of Programs, Janelle Firoozi, at JFiroozi@esassoc.com.
SAN DIEGO AEP BOOK CLUB September 2020 SDAEP is pleased to announce the Third Quarter Book Selection for the SDAEP Book Club! Looking for something to help fill the time while continuing "Stay at Home" orders? To use our platform to elevate Black voices, our third quarter book selection was chosen from a collection of books written by Black authors, nominated by SDAEP members. In a profound work that pivots from the biggest questions about American history and ideals to the most intimate concerns of a father for his son, Ta-Nehisi Coates offers a powerful new framework for understanding our nation's history and current crisis in his book Between the World and Me. Americans have built an empire on the idea of "race," a falsehood that damages us all but falls most heavily on the bodies of black women and men-bodies exploited through slavery and segregation, and, today, threatened, locked up, and murdered out of all proportion. What is it like to inhabit a black body and find a way to live within it? And how can we all honestly reckon with this fraught history and free ourselves from its burden? Between the World and Me is Ta-Nehisi Coates' attempt to answer these questions in a letter to his adolescent son. Coates shares with his son (and readers) the story of his awakening to the truth about his place in the world through a series of revelatory experiences, from Howard University to Civil War battlefields, from the South Side of Chicago to Paris, from his childhood home to the living rooms of mothers whose children's lives were taken as American plunder. Beautifully woven from personal narrative, reimagined history, and fresh, emotionally charged reportage, Between the World and Me clearly illuminates the past, bracingly confronts our present, and offers a transcendent vision for a way forward.We will be scheduling our Q3 SDAEP Book Club Discussion in September so as you make your way through your book selection, keep your eyes peeled for our discussion. Interested in being more involved? We are looking for a volunteer Book Club Leader to facilitate this quarter's selection! If you have any questions or want any more information as to what this would involve, please don't hesitate to contact Chapter Director, Corinne Lytle Bonine at clytle-bonine@chambersgroupinc.com or 619-241-1225.
2020 Awards & Scholarship EVENT Each fall, the San Diego Chapter holds an Awards and Scholarship Event to provide scholarships to student members who have demonstrated exceptional academic achievement in the environmental field. The event is also an opportunity to recognize exceptional technical and environmental documents and celebrates the accomplishments of local agencies, firms, and professionals. Since the inception of this event, our chapter has awarded more than $50,000 in student scholarships. On October 22, 2020 the San Diego Chapter of AEP will recognize the best in technical and environmental documents and celebrate the accomplishments of local agencies, firms, professionals and students at our annual Awards and Scholarship Event. This is our Chapter’s premier event each year, and while we are unable to gather together in person this tradition will carry on and the event will be held via Zoom. Our keynote address will be from Omar Passions, Director, Office of Integrative Services, Housing & Community Development Services, County of San Diego Health & Human Services Agency, who will discuss the intersection of racial and environmental justice. Join us for this year's event, registration is now open! For more information regarding the event, including nominating your project for an award, submitting your photographs for the Environmental Photography Contest, and how to become a sponsor, visit our website. Who: Open to everyone When: October 22, 2020 from 12noon-1:30pm Where: Zoom
The San Diego Chapter of AEP is pleased to announce an exciting new partnership with the Environmental Professional Diversity Collective (EPDC), a new inclusive group of local professionals in the environmental and architectural/engineering industry passionate about increasing diversity, inclusion, and equity (DEI) in our predominantly white field. See below for details of their upcoming first meeting and information if you want to get involved! We will be a resource for environmental professionals seeking to implement DEI within our workspaces. We will also be a resource to community partners working towards representation of underrepresented students/job candidates to engage and establish a hiring pipeline for that stakeholder group within our industry. Our first meeting will be held virtually on August 27 at 5:00 PM. If you are interested in attending, contact the EPDC Organizing Committee at EPDiversityCollective@gmail.com for more information.
UCSD EXTENSION COURSES California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) (online) 9/28/2020 - 11/7/2020 11/2/2020 - 12/12/2020 Advanced CEQA (online) 10/5/2020 - 12/5/2020 CEQA in Practice (online) 10/12/2020 - 11/21/2020 CEQA Project Management (online) 10/5/2020 - 12/5/2020 Writing Effective CEQA Documents (online) 10/12/2020 - 11/21/2020 Introduction to NEPA (online) 1/11/2021 - 3/13/2021 Participatory Conservation (online) 10/5/2020 - 12/5/2020 Behavior Change Strategies for Sustainability (online) 1/11/2021 - 3/13/2021 Community Engagement (online) 10/5/2020 - 12/5/2020
Announcements
California Fish and Game Commission Receives Petition to list the Quino Checkerspot Butterfly as an Endangered Species (California) June 29: The Quino checkerspot butterfly (QCB; Euphydryas editha quino) is endemic to California. It has a 4 cm wingspan with checkered red, black, and cream colors on top and cream on the underside. QCB are found in grasslands, open chaparral, and coastal shrublands with sparse vegetation surrounded by bare patches up to 5,000 feet in elevation. Individuals rely on host plants and nectar plants to complete their life cycles, including dwarf plantain (Plantago erecta). QCB face several threats including urbanization, habitat loss, non-native invasive plants, isolation and fragmentation, extreme drought conditions, climate change and fire. In San Diego County specifically, there are six identified Core Areas; however, only four were known occupied in the last nine years. In addition, the QCB is currently not a covered species under the San Diego Multiple Species Conservation Program (1996). On June 29, 2020, the Center for Biological Diversity and Endangered Habitats League submitted a notice of petition to list the QCB as an endangered species under the California Endangered Species Act (CESA). The petition would extend the current federal ESA protection and grant the QCB California-specific protection. The complete listing petition can be found here. California Fish and Wildlife Evaluates the Petition to List the Pacific Leatherback Sea Turtle as Endangered Under CESA (California) May: The pacific leatherback sea turtle (Dermochelys coriacea) is the largest turtle species in the world, though their size varies regionally, the common length of an adult exceeds 1.5 meters, and can reach 2 meters in length. Their backs are predominately black with white to pinkish and black undersides. Western pacific leatherback sea turtles feed in waters off California and is known to nest in at least 28 different sites along the tropical shores of Indonesia, Papa New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu. The petition indicates that Pacific leatherback sea turtles are facing extinction due to incidental bycatch in commercial and artisanal fisheries, overharvest of eggs, and killing of adults at nesting beaches, as well as commercial and residential development on nesting beaches. A petition to list the pacific leatherback sea turtle as an endangered species under the California Endangered Species Act (CESA) was submitted by the Center for Biological Diversity and Turtle Island Restoration Network on January 23, 2020. The petition was referred to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) for review. In May 2020, CDFW prepared a Petition Evaluation Report for the California Fish and Game Commission stating that the petition provides “sufficient information to indicate that the petitioned action may be warranted.” If the petition is accepted for consideration, the next step in the process for listing this species as endangered will be for CDFW to produce a peer reviewed report within 12 months of acceptance. The complete petition evaluation can be found here. California Fish and Game Commission Votes to Grant the Mountain Lion Candidate Status Under CESA (California) April 16: Mountain lions (Puma concolor) are large, slender cats with short, muscular limbs and a long tail that is about one third of their total length. Their hind limbs are longer than their fore limbs, which makes them well adapted for jumping through terrain or pouncing on prey. As top predators, they play an important role in keeping balance in the ecosystem. As a keystone species, they have many direct and indirect effects on their ecosystem, including stabilization of stream banks and the support of plant recruitment in riparian areas. On June 25, 2019, the Center for Biological Diversity and the Mountain Lion Foundation submitted a petition to the California Fish and Game Commission to list the Southern California/Central Coast Evolutionary Significant Unit of mountain lions as threated under the California Endangered Species Act (CESA). The petition focuses on six subpopulations including Santa Ana Mountains, Eastern Peninsular Range, San Gabriel/San Bernardino Mountains, Central Coast South (Santa Monica Mountains), Central Coast North (Santa Cruz Mountains), and Central Coast Central. The petition identified several threats to existing populations including low effective population sizes, habitat loss and fragmentation, population isolation which leads to inbreeding depression, vehicle strikes, increased human conflicts leading to depredation kills, intraspecific strife, environmental toxicant poisoning, wildfires, and climate change. On April 16, 2020, the California Fish and Game Commission voted unanimously (5-0) to grant the mountain lion candidate status under the California Endangered Species Act (CESA). This began a 12-month review period that will result in a final decision on permanent listing. However, this candidate status will grant mountain lions full protection under the California Endangered Species Act. Permanent listing of the mountain lion under CESA would ensure the survival and recovery of the Southern California and Central Coast populations by regulating projects that could threaten existing populations or essential habitat, requiring state agencies to conserve listed species, and requiring appropriate mitigation measures for projects that would destroy mountain lion habitat or impair population connectivity. The complete listing petition can be found here. California Department of Fish and Wildlife Recommends Listing Clara Hunt’s Milkvetch Plant as an Endangered Species under CESA (California) March 3: Clara Hunt’s milkvetch (Astragalus claranus) is a short annual herb in the legume family, which only occurs in California, often in oak woodlands with sparse vegetation and low shrub or tree overstory. Individuals appear to be adapted to poor quality, acidic soils, which may limit competition from other plants. The review report describes six small populations within Napa and Sonoma Counties, one of which is declining and another which may be extirpated or only exist in the soil seed bank. The various threats to this species, including modification or destruction of habitat and chance extinction events due to small population sizes, indicates a serious danger of extinction in all or a significant portion of its range. On March 3rd, the California Fish and Game Commission provided notice that Clara Hunt’s milkvetch is a candidate species for listing as an endangered species under the California Endangered Species Act (CESA). During a December 2019 meeting, the Commission received the Department of Fish and Wildlife’s five-year status review report recommending a change to the species status from threated to endangered. This species had previously been listed as an endangered species under the federal Endangered Species Act. The Review Report can be found here. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Proposes Critical Habitat for Western Yellow-Billed Cuckoo (Western Region) February 27: The western distinct population segment of the yellow-billed cuckoo (western yellow-billed cuckoo) (Coccyzus americanus) is a migratory bird species that ranges from northern Mexico into the American southwest and was listed as threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act in 2014. These individuals breed in temperate zones of the western United States and northern Mexico during moist and humid conditions occurring in late spring and summer. Breeding areas are primarily composed of riparian woodlands along perennial rivers or intermittent or ephemeral drainages containing vegetative structure, canopy cover, and appropriate environmental conditions. According to the FWS, the primary threats to this species include habitat fragmentation and degradation, altered hydrology, livestock grazing, nonnative vegetation, human disturbance, and the effects of climate change. The critical habitat defined by this proposal would help recover populations of the western yellow-billed cuckoo. The FWS is proposing revisions to previously identified critical habitat for the western distinct population segment of the yellow-billed cuckoo. This revision to the proposal would decrease the critical habitat designation identified in 2014 from approximately 546,335 acres within 80 units to 493,665 acres within 72 units within Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, New Mexico, Texas, and Utah. Approximately 164,248 acres that were previously proposed are no longer being proposed as critical habitat. However, approximately 26,061 acres of new critical habitat were identified and added to the proposed areas. These revisions were in part a result of comments from peer reviewers, Federal, State, and local land management agencies, and the public, as well as USFWS reevaluation of areas. USFWS’s notice is available here. California Department of Fish and Wildlife May Authorize Take of the Santa Cruz Long-toed Salamander (California) February 20: An act to amend the Fish and Game Code was approved, which allows CDFW to authorize take of the California Endangered Species Act-listed Santa Cruz long-toed salamander (Ambystoma macrodactylum croceum) that results from “construction along the State Route 156 corridor through Moro Cojo Slough in the County of Monterey for the purpose of enhancing safety and access” if certain conditions are met, including the development and implementation of a monitoring program as well as an adaptive management process until CDFW determines that any impacts resulting from the project has been fully mitigated. The amendment is available here. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Proposes to List the Hermes Copper Butterfly as a Threatened Species and Designate Critical Habitat (California) January 8: The Hermes copper butterfly (Lycaena [Hermelycaena] hermes) is a small-sized butterfly species historically found in San Diego County, California and northwestern Baja California, Mexico. The species host plant is the spiny redberry (Rhamnus crocea), which is the exclusive plant where female adults deposit single eggs, typically in coastal sage scrub and chaparral vegetation. Their primary nectar source is California buckwheat (Eriogonum fasciculatum). Populations require two types of “habitat connectivity”: within-habitat patch connectivity, and dispersal corridor-connectivity areas. The former is identified as an unfragmented habitat patch containing host plants and nectar sources, while the latter is identified as undeveloped wildlands with suitable vegetation structure between habitat patches. The primary threat to the Hermes copper butterfly and its habitat is wildfire, followed by habitat fragmentation, isolation, land use change, and climate change and drought. On January 8, 2020, the USFWS issued a rule proposing to list the Hermes copper butterfly as a threatened species and to designate critical habitat for the species under the Endangered Species Act. If finalized, this rule would add the Hermes copper butterfly to the List of Endangered and Threatened wildlife and extend the Act’s protections to this species as well as designate approximately 35,211 acres of critical habitat in San Diego County. The Proposed Rule can be found here.
PROTECTED SPECIES UPDATE BY SONYA VARGAS, ESA Voume 4, Issue 1 | January 1 - June 31, 2020
PROTECTED SPECIES UPDATE (CONTINUED) BY SONYA VARGAS, ESA
LIBBY FORTIN, CHAMBERS GROUP
Libby’s path to environmental planning has been a bit winding, but she is very excited to be where she is now! She grew up in New Hampshire and attended Columbia University, where she graduated in 2015 with a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Biology. After four years in New York City, she decided to take a chance on a unique summer internship as a research assistant in the Alaskan Arctic. She ended up falling in love with the tundra, and spent a total of three summers researching plant ecology and climate change at the field station 8 hours north of the Arctic circle! This experience shaped her as an environmentalist, but despite her love for the last frontier, she decided ultimately the research path wasn’t for her. Unsure what to do, she planned a 6-month “eat, pray, love” trip to southeast Asia and Australia, returning to the U.S. only to move to Breckenridge, Colorado and pursue her passion for skiing. In 2018 she became eager to flex her brain muscles and pursue an environmental career path again, so she moved to the land of CEQA. Her first job in SD was at a biotech company, but soon after she started, she met our Chapter President Katie Laybourn and Student Membership Director Kelsey Hawkins. She feels pretty lucky that they were some of the first people she networked with here! They introduced her to environmental consulting and she hasn’t looked back. She currently works for Chambers Group as an environmental planner assisting on a variety of projects, her favorite being renewable energy. Outside of work Libby loves all things outdoors, particularly hiking and mountain biking, and spends an excessive amount of time doting over her dog Oakley. You’ve recently taken a new position on the board. What made you want to get more involved and take a leadership position with AEP? I’m still new to the environmental field and I really wanted the opportunity to connect with other professionals in the field. I was on a few different leadership boards for extra curriculars in college, and often took on the event planning responsibilities, so Co-VP Programs sounded like a great fit. At every SDAEP event I could tell that the board had a lot of comradery and that made me certain I had to get involved! What have you enjoyed most about working in the environmental field? I’m someone who gets easily bored of the same 9-5 work schedule day-in and day-out. Environmental consulting gives me the flexibility and the opportunities to change things up usually on an hourly basis. I always feel like I have to stay on my toes, and I love that excitement! CEQA case law is always evolving, so there’s always something new to learn, no matter how long you’ve been in the field. What is a skill you would like to learn and why? I want to learn how to alpine ski tour so I don’t have to ski at busy resorts anymore and my dog can come skiing with me. If you could only keep 5 possessions, what would they be? My dog, my bike, my hiking boots, my water bottle, and my laptop. If you could work in any profession but your own, what would it be and why? I would run a little bed and breakfast in the Swiss Alps so I can meet cool travelers, spend all of my time doing the sports I love, and eat good cheese.
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SDAEPBoard@califaep.org President Katie Laybourn Harris & Associates katie.laybourn@weareharris.com Co-Vice Presidents of Programs Janelle Firoozi ESA jfiroozi@esassoc.com Libby Fortin Chambers Group efortin@chambersgroupinc.com Vice President of Membership Lisa Maier DUDEK lmaier@dudek.com Treasurer Emily Pacholski ICF emily.pacholski@icf.com Communications Director Matt Stewart ICF matt.stewart@icf.com Student Membership and Outreach Director Kelsey Hawkins Harris & Associates kelsey.hawkins@weareharris.com Chapter Director Corinne Lytle Bonine Chambers Group clytle-bonine@chambersgroupinc.com Newsletter Editor Erin Phillips DUDEK ephillips@dudek.com
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2020 chapter BOARD
