Brady Allred is a rangeland ecologist at the University of Montana. He works with the Natural Resources Conservation Service to spatially target and evaluate Farm Bill conservation programs. Working with an excellent team of scientists, he led the development of the Rangeland Analysis Platform, an online tool that empowers landowners and resource managers to track vegetation through time.
Sam Croat
Sam is a graduate of NDSU and holds a Master’s degree in Soil Science. She now works as a soil scientist for Stealth Energy Group in Williston, ND. Her main focus is produced water and hydrocarbon spill remediation, well pad and pipeline reclamation, and a suite of other environmental services.
Aaron DeJoia
Aaron DeJoia is Director of Environmental Solutions for Pilgrim Construction with over 20 years of consulting experience. Aaron is a North Dakota Licensed Professional Classifier, Certified Professional Soil Scientist and Certified Professional Agronomist based out of Monument, CO specializing in drastically disturbed land reclamation. Mr. DeJoia received both a B.S. and M.S. from the Kansas State University.
In total Mr. DeJoia has helped reclaim over 1.0 million acres of drastically disturbed land in the United States and is one of the leading soil science consultants in the reclamation field. Mr. DeJoia has been asked to be part of many innovative reclamation focused projects including the Colorado Department of Transportation Innovative Reclamation Techniques Research, The Nature Conservancy’s Best Practices for Steep Slope Pipeline Construction, and the Annual Construction and Reclamation Summit.
With the thousands of miles of pipeline ROW that Mr. DeJoia has a unique understanding of the reclamation vegetation and stormwater techniques that increase reclamation success and ultimately decrease soil erosion. He has also worked closely throughout his career with contractors to develop reclamation practices that can be implemented in the field. Aaron’s reclamation and stormwater practices have been designed to be constructible, effective and need minimal maintenance.
Tracy Kupchenko
Tracy achieved a degree in Agriculture from the University of Alberta in 2000. Throughout her 20 year career, she has had to opportunity to work for various regulatory agencies in Alberta in both grazing management and reclamation capacities, focusing on the Grasslands region of the province. For the past 7 years Tracy has worked for the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) as the Subject Matter Expert for Grasslands, and as an Assessor with the Oil and Gas Reclamation group. In addition to day to day work she is an active member of Society of Range Management, Southern Alberta Youth Range Days, Grassland Restoration Forum and Prairie Conservation forum.
Tracy will be sharing her observations and experiences as a professional who has had the opportunity to work in various regulatory roles related to activities on southeastern Alberta’s grasslands. This presentation will be based completely on her experiences and professional opinions.
Dr. Anne McIntosh
Dr. Anne McIntosh is an Associate Professor at the Augustana Campus of the University of Alberta. She has been conducting ecological plant community and soils research for over 20 years in diverse ecosystems in the northern hemisphere (e.g., Canada, USA, Costa Rica, Sweden). Her research focuses on recovery of forested and grassland ecosystems after both natural and anthropogenic disturbance. She received her BSc (Honours) from University of British Columbia, her MSc in Forest Science from Oregon State University, and her PhD in Forest Biology and Management from the University of Alberta in 2013. She is the lead ecologist on a project focused on monitoring recovery of reclaimed wellsites in Alberta that she will be presenting on today.
Mike Rawitch
Mike Rawitch is a geologist and geographer specializing in the implementation of geospatial technologies to optimize environmental problem solving. At Ramboll, his focus is on remotely sensed data analysis, collection and visualization applied to environmental monitoring. Mike’s team specialized in aerial imagery and image analysis to understand site conditions, reduce uncertainty and help efficiently characterize and monitor environmental sites. Mike is an Interstate Technology and Regulatory Council (ITRC) team member and is a co-author on the ITRC Chapter for Advanced Site Characterization Tools. He is also a certified Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Remote Pilot, is a senior Unmanned Aerial System (UAS or drone) operator within the Ramboll’s global drone practice group and serves on industry advisory boards at Kansas State University and the University of Kansas for his expertise in UAS.
Harold Rhodes
Harold’s work in Public Works and Civil Construction has provided the opportunity to participate in dynamic, diverse projects throughout the continental US and Hawaii. His career now is dedicated to responsible environmental remediation, reclamation and restoration within the energy sector, combining decades of experience with today’s generation of extraordinarily talented soil and environmental scientists.
This presentation is a summary of the innovative approaches Summit Midstream and Stealth Energy Group have taken to reclaim oil and gas related soil disturbances such as contamination and soil disturbances, i.e., pipeline construction.
Bill Seuss
Bill obtained a degree in geology/geophysics from the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee. He then spent 16 years as an environmental consultant in the Midwest and Northern High Plains regions. Bill joined the NDDoH Groundwater Protection Program in February of 2014 and was named the Spill Investigation Program Manager on August 1, 2015.
