California Airports Team Celebrates Recent Win at Lake Tahoe Airport ESA’s Airports group was recently awarded a five-year environmental on-call contract at Lake Tahoe Airport in South Lake Tahoe, California. Our team has a track record of successfully working on various environmental and land-use projects at the airport and in the Lake Tahoe region. As prime consultant and working closely with both new and established partners, we will be leveraging our environmental expertise airport planning knowledge and experience and our familiarity with the unique regulatory environment in the Lake Tahoe area to provide consulting services on an on-call basis. ESA recognizes the challenges that the Airport will be facing as the environmental and regulatory landscape continues to evolve. Part of our responsibility in this role will be to help the airport continue to serve the Lake Tahoe region while remaining committed to industry-leading sustainability goals. Read More »

Katie Carroz, AICP, Joins Community Development Team in Seattle ESA’s Community Development team in the Pacific Northwest continues to grow with the addition of Katie Carroz, AICP, who has joined the team as Senior Environmental Planner in Seattle, Wash. Read More »

Maximize Engagement with a Hybrid Approach to Facilitating Public Meetings Engaging with and educating stakeholders through public meetings is a critical step in a project’s approval process. Many have wondered if the same outcomes could be achieved in a virtual format. Learn how ESA’s public engagement experts pivoted quickly and immersed themselves in making sure virtual public meetings would be a smooth and effective process. Read More »

How the Latest Executive Orders and NEPA Regulations Affect Your Projects We have been keeping an eye on the new Administration’s executive orders to understand the changes to all of our clients’ ongoing and future projects. See what the recent changes may mean to your projects. Read More »

Shannon Wages, AICP, Joins Environmental Science Associates as Principal Associate Read More »

Happy Earth Day to Our Favorite Planet ESA celebrates Earth Day every day at all levels—through the work we do, how we operate, and how each of us appreciates the beauty of our world. Read More »

San Gabriel River Watershed Project Featured by Urban Water Institute Read a recent article co-authored by ESA’s Tom Barnes in a recent issue of UWI’s newsletter. Read More »

Celebrating 20 Years After Crissy Field’s Habitat Restoration The Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy is celebrating the 20-year anniversary of the transformative and multifaceted Crissy Field restoration, an incredible public and habitat resource. Read More »

ESA’s Barbra Calantas Founds Environmental Professional Diversity Collective Since Barbra launched EPDC in the fall of 2020, the group has provided programs and events to educate local youth from underserved communities on career opportunities within the environmental industry, with the goal of developing a more diverse pipeline of job candidates. Learn more about EPDC and its most recent Job Shadow event that ESA co-hosted. Read More »

Fish Passage Projects Offer Instant Relief for Fish in the PNW While the results of a fish passage project can be immediate, getting to the final stages of that solution can often be the biggest barrier. ESA is uniquely positioned to help overcome the technical, social, economic, and regulatory barriers that can complicate fish passage projects. We do this by bringing in the right experts who understand the stakeholders’ interests and have a problem-solving approach that leads to relatively swift action. Read More »

The Results Are In: What You Need to Know About FAA’s Neighborhood Environmental Survey ESA’s Airports group has reviewed the FAA’s recently released Neighborhood Environmental Survey and here is a brief synopsis of the findings, the history of noise policies, and next steps. Read More »

Melissa Gross Promoted to Director of Firmwide Business Services Melissa Gross has taken the helm of the firm’s coast-to-coast business services team. This critical position creates consistent, efficient, and effective upgrades to ESA’s business operations, workflows, and systems. Read More »

Federal Grants that Lower Emissions at Airports About to Take Off in 2021 Given the national momentum toward reducing emissions, combined with shrinking capital budgets due to COVID-19, now is a perfect time for airport sponsors to start planning for how they can incorporate low-emission improvement projects into their day-to-day operations at minimal cost. Learn more about available grant funding here. Read More »

ESA Welcomes
Jean-Christophe Dick as Senior Airports Planner Based in Southern Calif., Jean-Christophe brings more than 15 years of experience as a multi-disciplinary airport consultant and will work with ESA’s aviation professionals throughout the West Coast and across the country to deliver integrated planning and environmental solutions for clients. Read More »

Multidisciplinary Professionals Earn New Licenses and Registrations at ESA At the start of the year, three of our employee-owners announced new licenses and registrations, each of them involving professional practice, focused study, and rigorous testing. Please join us in congratulating them on their achievements! Read More »

Melissa Logue Joins
ESA as Northern California Transportation Director With nearly two decades of experience in delivering public transportation and related infrastructure projects throughout California, Melissa will be based in ESA’s Sacramento office and will be responsible for overseeing transportation projects throughout Northern California as well as working collaboratively with transportation professionals throughout the company. Read More »

A Citizen’s Guide to NEPA: Having Your Voice Heard The Center on Environmental Quality recently updated the “Citizen’s Guide to NEPA.” Find the link to the document itself, an overview of its contents, and what ESA does to help in public engagement in this story. Read More »

Connect with ESA at the 2021 Virtual CalDesal Conference ESA is excited to attend, and are proud sponsors of the 2021 Virtual CalDesal Conference happening February 10-11. Meet our team of specialists and learn more about our desalination and water resources work. Read More »

Easton Earns Environmental Collaboration and Conflict Resolution Certification As a strategic planner and meeting facilitator, Spencer regularly leads projects with complex stakeholder engagement needs. He chose to pursue the Certificate in ECCR to build his skills and understanding of facilitation and collaboration. Read More »

Working Clean: A Guide to Curbing the Introduction of Invasive Species Whether you are a field biologist or a casual weekend explorer, it’s important to learn our role in the spread of invasive species. Learn about how a small effort can go a long way in protecting the biodiversity of our natural habitats. Read More »

Interning at ESA: An Interview with Deja Newton University of San Francisco Environmental Management undergraduate and recent Northern California intern, Deja Newton, tells us about her experience at ESA and what she learned and benefited from while she was here. Read More »

Webinar Replay: Reimagine San Geronimo Learn more about the restoration efforts underway at San Geronimo and ESA’s involvement by watching the full webinar replay from The Trust for Public Land. Read More »

Tim Sturtz, PhD, Joins ESA as Principal Air Quality Specialist Tim Sturtz, PhD, one of the Northwest region’s top air quality experts, has joined ESA. Tim will be providing expertise in air quality assessment and management, including greenhouse gas analyses and odor assessments. Read More »

President’s Letter This year in particular, I am comforted by the natural cycles and rhythms that remain steady and grounding—the daily sunrise, the lengthening of days after the Winter Solstice, our instinct to help one another. I have also found reasons to be grateful that this year was anything but “business as usual”—patterns have been disrupted, mobility restricted, and busyness throttled. While destabilizing, this has been a time of paring down and waking up. Read More »

Reducing Risks in Airports During a Pandemic As the world continues to navigate the impacts of COVID-19, ESA is committed to helping the aviation industry establish health and safety protocols for its employees and passengers. Read a brief synopsis of the briefing and find the full PDF in this story. Read More »

More Than Meets the Eye (or Nose): A Q&A with Air Quality Specialist Heidi Rous We caught up with our very own air quality, climate change adaptation, and health risk assessment expert, Heidi Rous, CPP, to find out the answers to some commonly asked questions about the sight and smell of smoke and how this situation relates to our health. Read More »

A Holistic Approach to Healthier Rivers See how our restoration team is starting to think of waterways as patients, and how a holistic approach to their long-term health will be infinitely more beneficial than the “band-aid” approach. Read More »

SCAG Climate Adaptation Guidebook Released The full SCAG guidebook has been released, providing steps cities and counties can take to better prepare their communities for climate change impacts. Read More »

The State of Recycled Water in California As demands increase and water sources are constricted by climate change and increasing environmental awareness, water supply planners in the state continue to manage the co-equal goals of water supply reliability and environmental protection. Find out how recycled water plays into this equation. Read More »

ESA’s 2020 Scholarship Program Recipients We are honored to present three students – Jessica Brown, Sierra Red Bow and Victor Lopez – with the inaugural ESA Scholarship Program grants, established at the end of last year to commemorate our 50th anniversary. Read More »