Association of Environmental Professionals | San Diego Chapter
SUMMER 2019
This year, AEP celebrates 45 years of providing educational, networking, and career building opportunities to its members. Since 1974, AEP has grown to over 1,700 members in nine regional chapters (special shout out to our 300 San Diego Chapter members!). Since its inception, AEP has served the principals underlying CEQA by advancing the science and art of environmental planning and analysis, and supporting research and education related to environmental management and planning. As we look forward to more years of AEP, we want remind you of the variety of educational resources and networking opportunities AEP offers. This month and later this year, San Diego AEP will hold two NEPA workshops (NEPA Essentials and NEPA Advanced) in conjunction with the National Association of Environmental Professionals, and later this fall, San Diego AEP will hold the annual CEQA Essentials Workshop. Also, be sure to check out some of the recent AEP publications: the Mid-Year Review of 2019 Published CEQA Cases and the Housing & Wildfire Update and follow the State AEP and our San Diego Chapter on LinkedIn and other social media channels. We hope to see you at our annual San Diego Chapter AEP Membership Appreciation Event, Thursday, August 15 at Punch Bowl Social in Downtown. There will be games (bowling, giant jenga, karaoke, and more!), great food (BBQ pulled pork, grass fed beef burgers, mac & cheese, and more!), and two drink tickets per person. As always, this event is free to members. 45 years of AEP would not be possible without all our hardworking and reliable members, so thank you! To celebrate this anniversary, we wanted to share some photos from the early and mid-1990s. Thank you to Troy Murphree for this trip down memory lane. If you have photographs or AEP materials you would like to share from over the years, email them to erin.phillips@aecom.com. Let's keep the 45-year celebrations going!
MESSAGE FROM THE BOARD BY ERIN PHILLIPS, SAN DIEGO AEP NEWSLETTER EDITOR
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ENVIRONMENTOR
THE
AEP/APA Summer Mixer, P&D, 1993
AEP Luncheon, Mission Trails Regional Park, 1995
AEP/APA/BIA Holiday Party, 1994
MESSAGE FROM THE BOARD (CONT)
THE ENVIRONMENTOR, SUMMER 2019| {{page}}
AEP State Conference, Los Angeles, 1996
UPCOMING EVENTS
Membership Appreciation Event Thursday August 15, 5:30pm-8:00pm Punch Bowl Social Come celebrate what makes AEP so awesome - IT'S MEMBERS! Event is FREE to Members. Click here to register.
2019 September Luncheon Carlsbad Desalination Plant Tour Tuesday, September 17, 2019 Join us for a tour of the Carlsbad Desalination Plant! Space is limited to 15 individuals per tour time. When registering please select, either 10:30am or 11:45am. Tour is approximately 1 hour and is both indoor/outdoor; please dress accordingly with closed toed shoes. Lunch will be provided after each tour. Click here to register.
Now accepting applications for 2019 student scholarships. Click here for more information and to apply!
The Call for Nominations is open! Criteria and Qualification Forms are available here. San Diego AEP is excited to be holding the annual Awards and Scholarship Banquet, which provides 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 celebrate the accomplishments of local agencies, firms, and professionals. Since the inception of this event, the San Diego Chapter has awarded more than $50,000 in student scholarships. If you are interested in sponsoring the event, please contact Chris Mendiara at mendiara@llgengineers.com. If you have any questions regarding the event, please contact chair Julia Norris at jnorris@aarcherinc.com.
THE ENVIRONMENTOR, SUMMER 2019 | {{page}}
PHOTO BY DANE VAN TAMELEN, HELIX ENVIRONMENTAL
may, june, and july luncheons
Thank you to all our luncheon presenters! May Luncheon (Drones and Environmental Consulting): Clark Austin of Chambers Group & Katie Laybourn of Harris & Associates June Luncheon (SB 743 & VMT Analysis): John Boarman and KC Yellapu of LLG July Luncheon (Cultural Resources: AB 52 and Mitigation): Rebekah Loveless and Brandon Linton of Loveless Linton, Inc.
My name is Mulika Musyimi, and I am a senior at San Diego State University where I study Sustainability as a major, and Natural Resources Management as a minor. Both programs continually inform, and steer my academic pursuits and career interests. Additionally, being a part of Epsilon Eta; the Environmental Honors fraternity at SDSU, has provided a multiplicity of exploratory experiences which have allowed me to remain curious regarding local environmental issues, participate in habitat restoration projects, and develop the ability to discern, and advocate for community centric projects. As a result, participation in this year’s AEP CEQA Practicum felt opportune as far as augmenting past experiences and cultivating relevant skills. Although prior courses in Conservation Science and Policy, and Recreational Land Use had introduced the CEQA statute to me, my understanding of its functions were rather broad. Having experts elucidate its basis on case law and in turn delve into the primary sections of the CEQA guidelines checklist comprising cultural, biological, and transportation resources, facilitated better understanding of how to aptly report levels of significance given the circumstantial, changeable and often complex nature of projects. Their presentations also yielded new information on “energy demands” and “wildfire management” as add ons on the checklist, and generated follow up questions regarding procedural and intangible issues involving determination of“lead agency”, and a “project”, to discernible ones like traffic flow and transportation priorities in San Diego County. The most significant takeaway for me was the group participation portion which involved a mock construction project of a new education center. The activity allowed us to draw on the day’s topics, each other’s critical skills, and overall reporting mechanisms pertaining to impacts and mitigation. In summation, the practicum facilitated vital grounding for CEQA procedure, and the opportunity to officially join AEP.
STUDENT CEQA PRACTICUM
The annual Student CEQA Practicum was held on Saturday, April 20th at the Mission Trails Regional Park Visitor Center. Below are a few summaries of the event from some of the students that attended. Thank you to all that participated , especially our subject matter experts - John O’Conner from ECORP Consulting, Christina Schaefer from Schaefer Ecological Solutions, John Boarman from Linscott, Law & Greenspan, Engineers (LLG), and Janelle Firoozi of Environmental Science Associates (ESA)!
Hello, my and is Anna Millar and I have recently attended the AEP CEQA Practicum this April. I am currently enrolled in UCSD Extension's CEQA Certification Program, but have recently joined AEP. As a new member, I wasn't too sure what to expect at my first practicum, whether it be lectures and discussions or in field practice, I was open to the experience. Once it started, I realized it was going to be an in-depth training, consisting of lessons followed by field sessions involving CEQA initial studies, and listening to theoretical resource analyses by field-trained experts. The study looked at a conceptual education center at Mission Trails Regional Park in San Diego. The professionals that attended the Practicum ranged from a biologist, cultural resource expert, as well as a traffic engineer, and a wildfire analyst. Throughout the day, these experts shared their knowledge of CEQA, and their valuable practices and experiences in the field, as well as their recommendations for our theoretical project. Eventually, we split into groups and performed our own initial study for those resource sections explored during the classroom lessons. By the end of the day, I had felt like I, myself, had become a novice resource analyst, able to utilize their methods into an initial study of my own. The experience I had was invaluable and far exceeded my expectations. I would attend a Practicum every week if I could. For anyone wanting to dive into the world of CEQA and resource analyses, I would highly recommend this opportunity to both network and expand your CEQA knowledge.
STUDENT CEQA PRACTICUM (cont)
As a geography student, attending the AEP Student CEQA Practicum 2019 gave me a great opportunity to learn more about CEQA, meet environmental professionals in San Diego and connect my geography knowledge with real-world problems. The first focus session was about cultural resources in CEQA. Archaeologist John O’Connor explained the definition of cultural resources and how they are significant under CEQA. I have learned that the determination of cultural resources significance is based on criteria for California Register of Historical Resources and National Register of Historic Places. Indeed, protecting significant cultural resources is important for us as they preserve our history and contribute to the future studies. Next, biological resources and CEQA session was introduced by biologist Christina Schaefer. She has discussed the biology focus and CEQA checklist for biology resources. I was particularly interested in the vegetation community mapping in this session because it is more related to my GIS field. Using geographic information systems, we are able to map the sensitive species and communities to aid biology resources analysis for CEQA. Last, we also went on the Mission Trials near the visitor center to examine how the boundary of a river and wetlands are defined in CEQA. The Traffic and Transportation for CEQA session introduced the transportation portion from a traffic engineering perspective. The Post SB 743 Assessment provides a new approach to transportation impact as it is a holistic approach that involves transportation impact study (TIS), parking assessment and transportation demand management (TDM). I think that this new approach will have a positive impact on our urban traffic, which also produces more research opportunities in human mobility, regional planning and design. The last session dealt with wildfire portion of the CEQA, which was a new resource area in CEQA checklist. Wildfire is a major environmental problem in California, and it causes large economic and environmental damages. My geography background in Severe Weather helped me understand the wildfire issue from a meteorology perspective. We also map and analyze wildfires using satellite images in the field of remote sensing. At the end of the practicum, we formed different groups to develop a project and perform analysis. We first developed a project for a new education center at Mission Trials Regional Park, and then we performed an initial study based on field investigation, data collection and the CEQA checklist. The group project gives me hands-on experiences on analyzing the project environmental impacts. Overall, the AEP Student CEQA Practicum not only helped me learn more about the cultural resources, biology resources, transportation and wildfire sessions in CEQA, it also gives me an opportunity to meet environmental professionals and acquire more knowledge of the geography field. By: Ye Mu
PHOTO BY ERICA HARRIS, HELIX ENVIRONMENTAL
AEP was pleased to present the 2019 Institute, a one-day symposium designed to keep environmental professionals up-to-date on current issues in the environmental field on Friday, June 28 in Burbank, CA. This year, we put the “hot” in hot topics, with a wide range of panelists who focused on Wildfire Resiliency Planning & CEQA. Attendees were treated to sessions including: Climate Change & Fire Resiliency Legislative Activity Planning for Resiliency: How Agencies are Addressing Resiliency in Management Plans Addressing Fire Resiliency in CEQA Documents In between formal sessions, attendees were enthralled by Opening Keynote speaker Matt Dias, Executive Officer, Board of Forestry & Wildfire. Protection and Keynote Lunch speaker, Das Williams, 1st District Supervisor, County of Santa Barbara. And to celebrate the US Women’s National Team’s victory over France (and also networking, of course), we ended the Institute with a happy hour! The event would not have been possible without our sponsors, including Riverside County Flood Control and Water Conservation District, Michael Baker International, Ascent Environmental, ICF, JE Fuller, and Sapphos Environmental.
2019 AEP INSTITUTE RECAP BY CORINNE LYTLE-BONINE, san diego aep chapter director
meet a board member: KELSEY HAWKINS, STUDENT MEMBERSHIP DIRECTOR, HARRIS & ASSOCIATES
Originally from Orange County, Kelsey attended San Diego State University where she received her bachelor’s degree in Environmental Science. From there, she attended graduate school at California State University, Fullerton, where she received her master’s degree in Environmental Studies in 2017. During school, Kelsey served as secretary of the Environmental Sciences Student Society, an active member of the Delta Zeta sorority, and scholarship director of the SDSU College Panhellenic Association. She started working at a startup technology firm while interning on an aquaponics farm before deciding to move back down to San Diego to pursue a full time career in the environmental field. While there, Kelsey got an interim job for a construction management firm performing stormwater sampling and analysis. Kelsey currently works at Harris & Associates as a CEQA analyst preparing environmental documentation for development projects. When not at work, Kelsey enjoys playing beach volleyball, hiking, trying new restaurants, and trekking to as many National Parks as she can. 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 had only recently gotten into the environmental field and really wanted to get more involved and connect with other young professionals. I have been in leadership roles where I collaborated with students in the past and as a recent graduate myself I thought I could offer a fresh take on the student membership director role. Talking with Katie (the current chapter president) really made me excited about the possibility of helping students launch their career and being able to offer valuable resources to help them get there.
meet a board member (cont)
What have you enjoyed most about working in the environmental field? I have really enjoyed the variety of work. My day-to-day is always different and changing depending on the project. Every project has new challenges and impacts to work through and it’s exciting to be able to come together to solve the issues. It is really satisfying to see a project get approved after months (or years) of hard work. Additionally, I like being able to venture into the field every once in a while and actually see the site I am writing about. I’ve performed noise measurements, assisted on drone surveys, and participated in biological surveys. I have also been fortunate to meet some really great people throughout the process! What is a skill you would like to learn and why? I would love to become fluent in multiple languages. It would be a really useful skill when travelling abroad. If you could only keep 5 possessions, what would they be? My top 5 would be- my cat, my car, cellphone, my keychain/charm collection I’ve gathered over the years from all the places I’ve traveled, and my childhood photo albums my parents have put together. If you could work in any profession but your own, what would it be and why? Being an astronaut would be pretty exciting. Getting to travel outside of earth and venture to other planets would be an incredible experience.
Call for 2019 Award nominations The 2019 AEP Awards and Scholarship Banquet will be held October 24, 2019 from 5pm-9pm. We are looking for award nominations for the categories below. Outstanding Contribution to the Environmental Profession; Outstanding Public Involvement Award; Outstanding Technical Report; Outstanding Planning Document - Plan, Policy or Ordinance; Outstanding Environmental Analysis Document - EIR or EIS; Outstanding Environmental Analysis Document - MND or EA; Outstanding Innovation in Green Planning and Design Document Click here for more information.
PHOTO BY WENDY TURNER, ECORP CONSULTING
Be sure to check out the report summarizing the AEP CEQA and Housing survey that was conducted during Summer and Fall of 2018! AEP commissioned the study to answer the following questions: How does CEQA review affect overall housing production for both market-rate and affordable units in California? Are available streamlining/exemption methods being used? How does CEQA review affect the timing of housing project approvals? How could CEQA be further refined to increase both market-rate and affordable housing production?
Announcements
UC SAN DIEGO EXTENSION: Upcoming courses Advanced CEQA (ENV-40009) | Online 9/30/2019 - 11/30/2019 CEQA (BUSA-40739) | Online 9/23/2019 - 11/2/2019 California Native Plants (ENVR-40018) | In-Class 9/24/2019 - 12/10/2019 CEQA in Practice (ENVR-40010) | Online 10/7/2019 - 11/16/2019 CEQA Project Management (ENVR-40011) | Online 10/7/2019 - 12/7/2019 Navigating SB 743 Implementation (ENVR-80003) | In-Class 8/9/2019 Writing Effective CEQA Documents (ENVR-40008) | Online 10/7/2019 - 11/16/2019 Community Engagement (ENVR-40005) | Online 10/14/2019 - 12/14/2019 Conservation Psychology (ENVR-40000) | Online 10/7/2019 - 12/7/2019 Introduction to Sustainability (BUSA-40729) | Online 10/7/2019 - 12/7/2019 Sustainability Leadership (ENVR-40016) | Online 10/14/2019 - 12/14/2019 Environmental Sustainability Assessment Practicum (BUSA-40737) | In-Class 9/30/2019 - 12/6/2019
SDAEPBoard@califaep.org President Katie Laybourn Harris & Associates katie.laybourn@weareharris.com Co-Vice Presidents of Programs Janelle Firoozi ESA jfiroozi@esassoc.com Lisa Maier ESA LMaier@esassoc.com Vice President of Membership Thomas Strand Chambers Group tstrand@chambersgroupinc.com Treasurer Emily Pacholski Kleinfelder epacholski@kleinfelder.com Secretary 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 AECOM erin.phillips@aecom.com
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Contact the Newsletter Editor at: sdaepnews@gmail.com
Chapter Contacts
www.aepsd.org
2019 chapter BOARD
