Putting Aspirations into Action at the Port of Los Angeles An interview with Christopher Cannon, Director of Environmental Management at the Port of Los Angeles, on the importance of clean air and how industry technology will get us to net-zero. Read More »

The 30,000-Foot View: What You Need to Know about Airport Master Planning Commercial airports all over the country share the same mission: to provide high-quality, safe air travel services. Their success often drives regional economic development as business travelers, tourists, and the transport of goods rely heavily on these “mini cities.” Read More »

A Public Health Framework for Mitigating Climate Change According to the World Health Organization (WHO), “Although global warming may bring some localized benefits, such as fewer winter deaths in temperate climates and increased food production in certain areas, the overall health effects of a changing climate are likely to be overwhelmingly negative.” Read More »

Biosolids Digester Project Gains Support with Environmental Justice Report Originally constructed in 1952, the Southeast Treatment Plant in San Francisco’s Bayview neighborhood receives 80 percent of the city’s wastewater and stormwater flows, treating 60 million gallons per day (mgd) on average. Read More »

Working Toward Climate Justice in the Gateway Cities Across the spectrum of climate hazards the impacts of climate change will fall hardest on those who are historically over-burdened and most susceptible, including the elderly, infants and children; people and communities of color; and people living in poverty. Read More »

What You Need to Know About Executive Order 13807 While not making the headlines or evening news reports, recent changes stemming from White House Executive Orders are making a significant impact to the environmental review process nationwide. Here is a summary of the changes and what they mean to you. Read More »

Taking Funding for Granted: Resources for Restoration Projects Grants have long been an important―and sometimes the only ―funding resource for restoration projects. Non-profit organizations, local and special district agencies, tribes, academic institutions, and other eligible applicants rely on grant monies to envision and accomplish a wide array of restoration goals and objectives. Read More »

Three Ways We’re Using Technology to Work Smarter ESA has been exploring new ways to use technology to increase our efficiency collecting and managing data both in the office and in the field. Here are three ways we are streamlining workflows for the public comment process, monitoring, and developing complex climate models. Read More »

Are American Shopping Malls Really Dying? Since 2013, e-commerce retail sales have been creeping up from 7 percent to 10 percent in the United States, and that number is expected to reach almost 14 percent by 2021. While not a staggering statistic (considering the amount of business and personal shopping most of us do online on a daily basis), it has had a direct effect on the brick-and-mortar counterparts—especially those large retailers that anchor shopping malls. Read More »

A Roadmap Towards a Lower Carbon Footprint Despite increasing awareness and the “eco-friendly” steps corporations have been taking in recent years, climate modeling projects indicate that maintaining current levels of GHG emissions will increase global mean temperatures from between 3.7°C to 4.8°C by the end of the century. Read More »

An Arena Fit for the Kings

Development of new sports arenas and stadiums for major league professional sports teams has been fueled by public-private partnerships, public subsidies, and wealthy team owners looking to have dedicated facilities for their team. Cities across the country are recognizing the benefits that can be reaped by developing an arena in an urban environment. Read More »

Inside Look: ESA’s Fisheries Team Matthew Silva is a part of our Northern California Fisheries team consisting of 20 fisheries biologists. He oversees the implementation of large-scale fisheries research efforts as a field lead and project manager. We interviewed Matt to get an inside look on our fisheries team; here’s what we found out. Read More »

ESA Welcomes Mary Laux as Principal Planner in Northern California We are glad to welcome Mary Laux back to our Northern California team. Laux began her consulting career at ESA in 2001 with the airports group, and has spent the last 16 years with AECOM as an Associate Principal/Planner managing large, multidisciplinary projects. Read More »

Acoustic and Air Quality Specialist Dr. Tony Chung Joins Southern California Team Having completed thousands of noise and air quality studies, and as a certified member of the Institute of Noise Control Engineering since 1991, Dr. Chung is recognized as one of the premier noise experts in the nation. He has also been involved in more than 100 greenhouse gas and climate change impact analyses. Read More »

California Supreme Court Rejects Challenges to EIR for Monterey Peninsula Water Supply Project The California Supreme Court, in a late-August decision, denied challenges to the sufficiency of the Environmental Impact Report (EIR)/Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) prepared for California American Water Company’s (CalAm) long-awaited desalination plant, the Monterey Peninsula Water Supply Project (MPWSP). Read More »

Research Shows Nutrient Diet Improves Water Quality, Fishery Habitat Across the globe, coastal zone management efforts have concluded that restoring fish populations often requires acting on land-based human activities. With a few notable exceptions, most commercially and recreationally important species of fish, crabs, and shrimp spend at least a portion of their lives in estuarine locations, where waters from the open ocean mix with runoff from land. Read More »

September 22-26 | National Center for Sustainable Transportation Sacramento, CA Read More »

ESA Adds Beverly Choi as Northern California Community Planning Program Manager Recognized as one of the California Top 20 Under 40 Professionals by Engineering News Record in 2016, Choi most recently worked for AECOM where she held a variety of leadership roles—from Studio Leader to Senior Project Manager—and worked on a number of high-profile local and international, multi-disciplinary projects. Read More »

ESA’s Linda Amato Elected to APA Board of Directors The Board of Directors consists of 17 members governing and setting strategic goals for the organization. Linda was elected by fellow APA members and will serve a four-year term starting January 1, 2020. Read More »

Informing Sea Level Rise Response in Tampa Bay Formed in Spring 2014, the Climate Science Advisory Panel (CSAP) is an ad hoc network of recognized scientists and resource managers working in the Tampa Bay region (Figure 1). The group’s goal is to collaboratively develop science-based recommendations for local governments and regional agencies as they respond to climate change and associated sea-level rise (SLR). ESA principal scientists Dave Tomasko and Doug Robison were appointed to the CSAP and have been actively engaged in the work of the panel since its inception. Read More »

Environmental DNA in a Regulatory and Operational Landscape Environmental DNA (eDNA) is DNA collected from the environment—water, soil, and air—rather than directly from an organism. All organisms add DNA to their environment by excreting waste, shedding, decomposing, etc. Since short stretches of DNA contain information that identifies species and populations, genetic testing of environmental samples can reveal the presence of animals and plants nearby. Read More »

Finding Common Ground to Advance Restoration in California’s Delta and Beyond An interview with Bill Harrell, California Department of Water Resources (DWR), and Erika Lovejoy, Sustainable Conservation, on accelerating restoration projects in California. Read More »

ESA’s Autumn Ward Joins Tony Jannus Distinguished Aviation Society Board of Directors Senior Airport Planner, Autumn Ward, based out of ESA’s Tampa office was inducted to the Board of Directors for the Tony Jannus Distinguished Aviation Society (TJDAS). Read More »

October 30 – November 1 | Washington State Lake Protection Association Lake Chelan, WA Read More »

October 25-26 | Oregon Lakes Association Bend, OR Read More »

October 21-24 | Tribal/EPA Region 9 Conference Maricopa, AZ Read More »

Celebrating 50 Years of Groundbreaking Science, Planning & Design ESA marked its 50th anniversary on July 3. It will celebrate this summer and fall with open houses for clients, project partners and colleagues across its regional offices. Coinciding with the half-century milestone, the firm will also inaugurate a scholarship fund and is unveiling a new website featuring in-depth industry insights and project information. Read More »

October 4-7, 2019 |
Western Museums Association Annual Meeting Boise, ID Read More »

September 29 – October 3 | American Fisheries Society + The Wildlife Society Reno, NV Read More »

Publications by Year Read More »