Description

Monthly webinars are offered as a benefit of SWS membership. Each quarter (Mar, Jul, Sep, Dec) a SWS webinar is open for non-members to attend at no cost.

A large industrial complex located on the Mid Texas Coast that produces pre-production plastics released plastics into an impounded creek and adjacent bay system over several decades. As a result of a lawsuit, the company is required to remove plastic pellets in the creek system and estuary complex, and to remediate and restore damaged natural resources. Freese and Nichols, Inc. was selected as a third-party consultant to develop a coastal resource remediation plan for plastic pellet removal and subsequent restoration, the first of its kind in the country. Our Environmental Science and Coastal Group is undertaking this multidisciplinary project, incorporating the skills of our engineers, geologists, biologists, ecologists, and geomorphologists. This presentation will provide an overview of the ongoing remediation efforts of the project, including development and implementation of comprehensive sampling plans, removal of plastics from highly dynamic environments, and ecosystem restoration activities within the impacted coastal environment. Photos description: Creek shorelines during remediation implementation.

Speaker: Ryan Fikes, Biologist 

Ryan is a trained biologist with expertise in coastal ecology and habitat restoration. He brings 15+ years of experience providing scientific expertise to identify and evaluate restoration projects in the Gulf of Mexico to ensure investments are scientifically sound, integrate with other projects, and achieve realistic outcomes. Through management of strategic partnerships, Ryan has worked to leverage existing resources to promote and facilitate innovative approaches to conserving ecosystems and their resources. Ryan has experience advising state and federal leadership on issues associated with the effects of oil spills on habitat and wildlife, and he has assisted in evaluating the merits of both state and national restoration plans. His work over the years has centered around connecting science and policy in evaluating, sequencing, planning, and implementing largescale ecosystem restoration efforts.

Speaker: Blake Simon, Environmental Scientist 

Mr. Simon has 12 years of experience in the environmental field working for the National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, APTIM, and Freese and Nichols, Inc. He spent 8 years working as a wetland scientist assigned to the Coastwide Reference Monitoring System in Southwestern Louisiana. Mr. Simon completed the MGIS program at Penn State in 2022, and currently flies drones, creates maps, and builds GIS web applications for Freese and Nichols.