Keynote Speaker

Dave Rosgen, P.H., Ph.D.

We are pleased to welcome Dr. Dave Rosgen, founder of Wildland Hydrology, as the keynote speaker for the 2018 conference. Dr. Rosgen has over 50 years of field experience in river work, 20 of which were with the U.S. Forest Service. Dr. Rosgen has designed and implemented over 70 large-scale river restoration projects. A few of his major contributions to the field include the development of a stream classification system, the BANCS streambank erosion model, and the FLOWSED/POWERSED sediment transport models, the WARSSS methodology for cumulative watershed assessment, and a geomorphologic approach to Natural Channel Design restoration methodology.  Dave utilizes his extensive experience to conduct short courses in watershed management, river morphology, restoration, and wildland hydrology applications. Dave is also the author of Applied River Morphology and Watershed Assessment of River Stability and Sediment Supply (WARSSS) and over 70 reports and articles in research journals, symposia, and federal agency manuals. Dave and his projects have been featured in Time, Science, 5280, National Geographic, The Denver Post, and The New York Times.

 

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General Session Speakers

Palmer Hough, US Environmental Protection Agency

Palmer Hough is an Environmental Scientist with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Office of Wetlands, Oceans, and Watersheds at EPA Headquarters in Washington, DC. Palmer has 20 years of experience in the Clean Water Act Section 404 regulatory program and serves as EPA’s national lead on wetland and stream mitigation issues. Palmer was EPA’s lead on the Compensatory Mitigation Regulations, which were developed jointly with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and released in 2008.

 

 

Eve Brantley, Ph.D., Alabama Cooperative Extension System and Auburn University

Eve Brantley is an Associate Professor with the Auburn University Department of Crop, Soil and Environmental Sciences. She also serves as the Alabama Cooperative Extension System Water Resources Specialist. Eve has worked as a local watershed coordinator, facilitator for the Coastal Alabama Clean Water Partnership, and coordinator of a state citizen water-monitoring program. She has worked with watershed management, restoration, and education at the local, state, and regional scales. Her degrees are from Berry College, Clemson University, and Auburn University.

 

Lee Forbes, SWCA Environmental Consultants

Mr. Forbes serves as a Senior Ecological Restoration Engineer for SWCA Environmental Consultants. Based in SWCA’s  Houston, Texas and Louisiana operations, he provides engineering and design support for ecological restoration projects across the company. His experience as a consulting civil/environmental engineer spans more than 32 years. In the last 20 years, Mr. Forbes has applied his unique and diverse background toward the emerging field of sustainable watershed resources management, with an emphasis on the engineering aspects of ecosystem restoration and has been certified as a Diplomate, Water Resources Engineer by the Council of Engineering & Scientific Specialty Boards. Of note, he has served as project manager/lead design engineer for numerous stream restoration, wetland restoration, and ecologically-enhanced channel stabilization/restoration design projects in Texas, Louisiana, Michigan, Colorado, North Carolina, Alabama, California, and Washington.

 

Brian Bledsoe, Ph.D., University of Georgia

Brian Bledsoe is Georgia Athletic Association Distinguished Professor in the College of Engineering at the University of Georgia.  Brian has over 30 years of experience as an engineer, hydrologist, and environmental scientist in the private and public sectors. He holds degrees from Georgia Tech, North Carolina State University, and Colorado State University.  Before entering the professorate, he worked as a consulting engineer and surveyor, and for the State of North Carolina as a watershed restoration specialist and nonpoint source program coordinator.  Brian’s research is focused on water quality, stormwater, flood hazards, infrastructure, and restoring rivers and wetlands.  He is a licensed civil engineer in NC and CO, and a Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers.  Brian’s advisory activities include the Everglades and coastal Louisiana restoration efforts, the Platte River and San Juan River Recovery Implementation Programs, Engineers Without Borders, and collaborative water planning and management with numerous municipal, industrial, and agricultural partners.

 

Chuck Flink, FASLA, PLA

Chuck Flink is an award-winning author, landscape architect and environmental planner. He is a Fellow in the American Society of Landscape Architects and is widely regarded as one of America’s leading greenway planners and designers having completed projects in 250 communities within 37 states. He has provided greenway consulting services to international clients in Asia, Canada, Europe, and South America, and has been featured for his work in National Geographic, Landscape Architecture, American Planning and Business Journal.

Chuck has a BEDLA and MLA from the College of Design at North Carolina State University.  He is co-author of two award winning books Greenways A Guide to Planning, Design and Development and Trails for the Twenty-First Century.

Chuck was a member of two national disaster recovery efforts in Grand Forks, North Dakota and Louisville, Kentucky. Among his many notable award winning projects include the Grand Canyon Greenway in Arizona, the Razorback Greenway, a 36-mile regional greenway in NW Arkansas, and the Miami River (Florida) Greenway. Currently, he is project director and lead designer for the Wolf River Greenway in Memphis, TN, a 25-mile, $50 million urban greenway that extends from the Mississippi River, through North Memphis to Germantown.