The Speakers

Robert Beckwith is Vietnam Vet Serving in Army Communication Corp on Monkey Mountain above Danang. Coming home he returned to the College of Idaho to complete a Biology Degree. In his last year at the College, he became involved in Water Studies. Those studies launched a lifetime interest in Idaho waters and their water quality. Graduation initiated a career teaching Biology, Environmental Science, Science Clubs, and Photography.

Complimenting his teaching career was the opportunity to become a white-water guide on the Upper Salmon River. Guiding that extended to Middle Fork, Main and Lower Main Salmon Rivers. Besides being a Salmon Saving Advocate Beckwith is involved in the Historical Restoration of Loon Creek Hot Spring on the Middle Fork of the Salmon. He is an advisor for the College of Idaho’s Outdoor Program. He and his wife, Marcia also own and operate Beckwiths Lodge in the Sawtooths Mountains, very near the Salmon River headwaters.

Tyler Fortunati is the Drinking Water Bureau Chief at the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality. Tyler holds a B.S. in Biology with an emphasis in Ecology from Boise State University and a M.S. in Industrial Hygiene from Montana Tech of the University of Montana. He has been a Registered Environmental Health Specialist since 2007 and a Certified Public Manager since 2019. Tyler has worked in environmental and public health since 2006 at both the local and state levels.

Before coming to the University of Idaho in 2017, I completed degrees in Wildlife Science and Watershed Ecology at Utah State University. Currently, I am working on several projects that aim to classify and model streams based on when they contain surface water.

JoAnn Holloway is a biogeochemist working with the U.S. Geological Survey Geology, Geophysics & Geochemistry Science Center in Denver, CO. She has a Ph.D. in Hydrologic Sciences from the University of California at Davis, and her research integrates soil science, geomorphology, hydrology, and geochemistry to understand soil micropore to watershed-scale processes.

I am a hydrologist in the EPA’s Office of Research and Development, and I research aspects of habitat important to fish and other living things in lakes, streams and rivers and how to measure them. In the Clean Water Act, Congress and the American people expressed their desire for fishable, swimmable, and drinkable water. Water clarity, riparian vegetation, and the variety of habitats are among the first things that influence people’s judgement about how appealing or useful a waterbody is. These physical characteristics also control the types of living things that can survive there. Human activities affect habitat in many ways. I helped to design and now interpret EPA’s National Aquatic Resource Surveys, which measure biota, habitat, and chemistry in waters around the U.S. to find out whether they are changing, where, and why. By contributing to collaborative national surveys, my research helps the EPA, States, and Tribes to measure how well our laws and regulations protect our waters and the ecosystems within them. Ultimately, this means your health, my health, and the health of our kids and our grandparents will be protected because we have clean water to drink and play in.

I was hired by EPA in 1998 to serve as the technical lead for developing and interpreting indicators of physical habitat condition in lakes, reservoirs, rivers, and streams within the National Aquatic Resources Surveys. Previous to that I was a professor at Oregon State University for about 7 yrs on a research cooperative agreement developing field methods for habitat, fish and bugs for EPA’s Environmental Monitoring & Assessment Program. And before that I was a professor at Utah State.

Education:

· BS Environmental Science; University of New Hampshire

· MS Hydrology; University of New Hampshire

· PhD Civil and Environmental Engineering; Utah State University

Current Professional Activities:

· Currently evaluating low-cost methods for measuring discharge in small streams.

· Works with the Lower Boise Watershed Council and the City of Boise to monitor water quality in the Lower Boise River.

· Implementing tools for remote sensing of algal blooms in Idaho and beyond.

Physical Scientist

US Geological Survey

Geophysics, and Geochemistry Science

Deborah Newby holds a Ph.D. in environmental microbiology and has over 20 years of experience in research and regulatory affairs in the national laboratory system and private industry. She joined the SUEZ Idaho team in 2019 where she serves as the regulatory compliance manager overseeing water quality and environmental health, safety, and security. Her career focus has been on converting innovative research into processes and scales capable of delivering real-world solutions. Several of her research projects centered on the fate and transport of chemicals, including trichloroethylene, heavy metals, and agricultural (dairy) waste. Her technical expertise combined with a passion for water quality fuel her commitment to ensuring SUEZ meetings all regulatory obligations without exception, delivering the highest quality water possible to its customers.

Dr. Kossi Nouwakpo is Research Soil Scientist at the USDA-ARS Northwestern Irrigation and Soils Research Laboratory (NWISRL) in Kimberly, Idaho. Dr. Nouwakpo earned his Ph.D. in 2012 from the Department of Agronomy at Purdue University. After an early career as a Research Faculty focused on rangeland erosion and hydrology issues at the University of Nevada, Reno, Dr. Nouwakpo joined the NWISRL in 2019 to focus on soil erosion and water quality issues in irrigated agricultural systems of Southern Idaho. Dr. Nouwakpo combines experimental methodologies, spatial technologies and modeling techniques to clarify linkages between agricultural management practices and soil erosion and nutrient transport by water. Ongoing research activities include: the development of machine learning techniques to map management practices, improving erosion and nutrient loss prediction under various irrigation methods, understanding in-field and off-site nutrient transport dynamics as impacted by management, designing nutrient removal techniques in surface waters, etc.

Over the past several years I have been applying geochemical methods to understanding hydrologic processes in the eastern Snake River Plain aquifer at the Idaho National Laboratory in eastern Idaho. The specific hydrologic processes under study are the sources of recharge to the groundwater, mixing of different source waters, and groundwater flow directions. We have available a comprehensive suite of chemical and isotopic data in the study area to conduct these investigations and the results have been/will be published in Chapters A through D of U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1837. The hydrologic processes in the upper 250 feet of the aquifer were interpreted from an evaluation of the comprehensive and extensive chemical and isotopic data in Chapter A and with geochemical modeling in Chapter B. In Chapter C (in editorial review), which this presentation covers, geochemical modeling and water samples collected from vertically discrete sampling zones was used to evaluate the three-dimensional hydrologic processes of the upper 700 feet of the aquifer in the southwestern part of the INL. Chapter D (in preparation) utilizes the natural isotopes of uranium and strontium to evaluate the sources of recharge, mixing, and groundwater flow directions in the shallow aquifer.

Chris Larsen, Biologist, Water Quality at Idaho Power

Chris has been with Idaho Power for 14 years and worked on many different types of water quality and fisheries projects for 25 years. As part of the Idaho Power Environmental Department, he is regularly working with water quality data and is responsible for managing their water database in the AQUARIUS platform.

Rónán Ó Maitiú, Sales Manager, Aquatic Informatics

Ronan has been with Aquatic Informatics for more than a year and has worked on global water resources projects for almost 20 years. Having previously held roles at OTT HydroMet and Hach, he is no stranger to helping customers leverage water data to surface actionable insights that solve organizational and environmental challenges.

T.J. Sisson, Territory Manager, OTT HydroMet

TJ has been a territory manager for OTT HydroMet since 2003. Based in Southern Idaho, he helps customers in the Pacific Northwest discover water quality, water quantity, datalogger and data telemetry solutions to enable data collection and data management programs better protect communities and their environment.

Rob is a principal of Ecological Design, Inc. a private consulting firm providing professional services to public, private, and non-profit clients. He holds certifications as a Professional Wetland Scientist, Wetland Delineator, Fisheries Scientist, Wildlife Biologist, and NPDES BMP Designer.

He is pleased to share his knowledge, skills, and abilities with the Boise River Enhancement Network, Inc. a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to keeping the Lower Boise River a happy and healthy place for all to enjoy. And, serves as the current Chair of the Coordinating Team.

Rob has worked complex projects with significant environmental and ecological issues throughout the Northeast and Pacific Northwest over his 35-year career. And, has designed, permitted, and supervised construction of numerous constructed wetland and riparian restoration projects including that nominated for the FHWA National Environmental Excellence Award. His efforts to forge agreements on the use wetland banks as a mitigation alternative earned him the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) / Environmental Law Institute award for Outstanding Individual Contribution to Wetland Conservation.

Rob’s skills include expert knowledge of the Clean Water Act and Endangered Species Act. He served as an expert witness and provided scientific support for the Department of Justice in the case heard by the US Supreme Court, Chantell and Michael Sackett v. US EPA.

Rob is a Visiting Scholar at the Center for Ecohydraulics Research, College of Engineering at the University of Idaho. And, has served as both Chairman and a Member of Special Panels of the National Academy of Science.

Eric Winford works as the Associate Director of the University of Idaho Rangeland Center. The Center works with faculty and extension specialists at the university to use science to find long-term solutions for managing Idaho’s rangelands. As an interdisciplinary group of researchers and educators, the work of Center members stretches across academic disciplines and includes experts in livestock nutrition, riparian ecology, water quality, recreation management, and more.

As Associate Director, Eric manages the operations of the Center and builds teams to conduct research and outreach. Eric specializes in stakeholder-driven research and in riparian ecology. Current projects include discovering the source of E. coli in Mink Creek and work at the University’s Rinker Rock Creek Ranch.

Alysa “Amy” Yoder is a hydrologic technician with the USGS Idaho Water Science Center (IDWSC) Studies Section in Boise, ID. She works on a variety of IDWSC projects, primarily the Hells Canyon Complex Mercury project, the Stibnite Water Quality Monitoring project, and the Lower Boise Water Quality Monitoring project. Her primary duties are field sample collection and data processing. Amy attended Montana State University for her B.S. in Geology, specializing in Geohydrology. She attended the University of California, Davis for her M.S. in Hydrologic Sciences, specializing in Hydrogeology. During her time at UC Davis, she designed and implemented a groundwater observatory and studied the impacts of levee-breach restoration on groundwater recharge in a floodplain-riverine environment. During her free time, Amy likes to enjoy Idaho’s natural spaces in any way she can, primarily rafting and snowboarding.