Photo By Emily Klinkenborg | Shaun Blocker, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Savannah District Regulatory Division...... read more read more
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Savannah District, participated in the 17th Annual Georgia Environmental Conference at the Jekyll Island Convention Center Aug. 21-23, 2024, sharing ideas and concerns about environmental activities impacting Georgia and the Southeast region.
The conference provided an opportunity for professionals to engage in meaningful discussion, focused on creating a positive environmental impact for the communities in which they serve.
The USACE South Atlantic Division Commander, Brig. Gen. Daniel Hibner, addressed the audience during the first plenary session of the conference.
“Everything that we do in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has environmental stewardship as a tenet,” said Hibner.
Conference attendees ranged from local, state, and federal government officials to energy experts and land owners. The agenda, developed by a committee of 60 personnel, offered several breakout sessions and workshops during the three-day conference. Event guests could tailor their conference experience by selecting nine events to attend, in addition to the plenary sessions.
The District’s planning and regulatory teams hosted informational booths during the conference as an outreach initiative to answer questions about current and future projects, and help build community interest in their mission.
Suzanne Hill, environmental team lead, and Alex Metz, a biologist, led discussions at the Savannah District’s planning branch booth.
“We want to help people better understand how broad our mission is,” said Hill. “It’s not just navigation, it’s not just dredging. We also deal in environmental infrastructure, planning assistance to the states and partnering with the community.”
Metz shared the process of the most recent Inundation Study for Glen County, Georgia, as an example of just how extensive their scope of work can be.
“One of our missions is the Flood and Coastal Storm Resilience,” said Metz. “We’ve done some modeling using regional data to look at more local impacts with greater accuracy than typical flood models.”
The planning team identified critical facilities, roads, and structures that could be impacted by these sea level changes and shared the results with the community to inform them of potential risk zone areas.
“The conference is an opportunity to share our mission and how we make a difference within our communities,” said Metz.
Shannon Mardig, regulatory specialist, and Justin Edwards, a project manager, ran the information booth for the Regulatory Division.
While their daily tasks often involve permitting, one of their main missions is to protect wetlands. The team uses a series of desktop resources that show elevation and stream channels to help identify where those wetlands are before heading out on site to visit the location.
“First we have to figure out what we are regulating, then jurisdiction comes into play,” said Edwards. “Once we know what resources and activities need to be regulated, then we look at what is required to determine if that permit is authorized.”
In addition to the informational booth, the Regulatory Branch also presented during one of the scheduled breakout sessions. Shaun Blocker, chief of regulatory; Justin Hammonds, chief of special projects team; and Shawn Gill, project manager for the special projects team, briefed an audience about the recent updates to the Regulatory Division and their ongoing programs within.
“The most important aspects of this conference are outreach and education,” said Mardig. “Our hope is that guests can walk away with a better understanding of what regulatory does, what services and resources we provide, and how to contact us if they need any information.”
| Date Taken: | 08.21.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 08.26.2024 15:49 |
| Story ID: | 479438 |
| Location: | SAVANNAH, GEORGIA, US |
| Web Views: | 81 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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