STAFF
Wetland and Water Resources' scientists and engineers operate as a core team of scientists, engineers, and planners collaborating with a pool of highly-qualified experts available to meet the unique needs of each project. We have proven research track-records and extensive experience in applying research practices and principles to project planning and implementation.
(Click on name for bio)
Stuart Siegel, Ph.D., P.W.S., President, Wetland Science
Christina Toms, Environmental Engineering
Dan Gillenwater, Environmental Scientist
Jolie Egert, Environmental Scientist
Kate Baird, Environmental Scientist
Patricia Marmion, Business Manager
Darren Gewant, Environmental
Scientist
A note on our email addresses: to avoid spam, we do not include direct email links.
Instead, we note the email prefix for each person, all of which are followed by "@swampthing.org" unless otherwise noted.
Stuart W. Siegel, Ph.D., P.W.S.
President, Principal Wetland and Environmental Scientist
Ph.D., 2002 Geography, UC Berkeley
M.A., 1993 Geography, UC Berkeley
B.A., 1986 Environmental Science, UC Berkeley
B.S., 1986 Chemistry, UC Berkeley
Professional
Wetland Scientist #000196, Society of Wetland Scientists
Dr. Siegel founded Wetlands and Water Resources in 1996 after 11 years working on wetlands technical and regulatory issues in the San Francisco Bay area. He has devoted his professional career to the conservation and restoration of wetland and aquatic systems with an emphasis on estuarine tidal wetlands. His combined work experience and graduate studies have built his expertise as an integrative physical scientist and geomorphologist with considerable emphasis on the related disciplines of ecology, environmental regulation and policy, contaminant remediation in estuarine environments, management, and business.
Dr. Siegel focuses on the integration of numerous disciplines into a comprehensive systems approach for regional ecosystem planning, ecosystem restoration projects, and scientific research into ecosystem restoration and management issues. His approach is now commonly referred to as "ecosystem-based" management. Dr. Siegel works primarily in the San Francisco Estuary and Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta with other efforts elsewhere in coastal California as well as in the tropical Pacific. Restoration projects range in size from a few acres to a few thousand acres. Science research investigates physical, chemical, and biological processes affecting outcomes of ecosystem restoration efforts and the effects of ecosystem management on water quality and biological resources; Dr. Siegel is the lead principal investigator for CALFED's Integrated Regional Wetland Monitoring pilot project and for a State Board-funded investigation of low dissolved oxygen and methyl mercury production in Suisun Marsh managed wetlands. His current regional planning work includes being the technical lead for Governor Schwarzenegger's Delta Vision Ecosystem Strategic Plan, a science co-lead for the CALFED Delta Restoration Plan, science input for habitat planning as part of the Bay Delta Conservation Plan, and Science Advisor for the interagency Suisun Marsh Plan. Dr. Siegel is a certified Professional Wetland Scientist.
Email Stuart Siegel: stuart
Christina Toms
Environmental Engineer
M.S., 2003 Civil and Environmental Engineering, UC Berkeley
B.S., 2002 Biological Resources Engineering, University of Maryland, College
Park
Ms. Toms has over 5 years of professional and educational experience in the field of ecological engineering. Prior to her arrival at WWR, she helped to oversee the construction and revegetation of 52.8 acres of ponds, wetlands, and restored riparian areas in the East Bay. She has performed research in a variety of aquatic systems, from constructed treatment wetlands to restored river channels and eutrophic drinking water reservoirs. Her experience in the more traditional fields of environmental engineering includes summers spent as a geotechnical laboratory technician and internships with the US Navy and the US Department of Agriculture.
Email Christina Toms: christina
Dan Gillenwater
Environmental Scientist
M.S., 2005 Environmental Science, The Ohio State University
B.S., 2002 Environmental Science, University of Delaware
Mr. Gillenwater collects, organizes, analyzes, and presents data relating to wetland processes and functions at restoration sites throughout the San Francisco Bay region. Specific duties include collecting water level, topographic, sediment, and water quality data; writing and preparing figures and tables for technical reports; generation and management of GIS data; cartography; database interface; and environmental modeling. Dan has professional and educational experience in a variety of environmental fields. He studied wetland ecosystem ecology and ecological engineering in laboratories at The Ohio State University (OSU). As part of a river restoration project team at OSU, Dan collected in-situ data on fish spawning activities and larval out-migration, performed topographic surveys, constructed hydraulic, ecological, and habitat suitability models. As an intern with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP), Dan collaborated with engineers and geologists on abandoned coal mine reclamation projects. His major responsibilities included using geophysical instrumentation to track underground acid mine drainage (AMD) seeps, helping to set up a pilot scale biodigestor system to treat AMD, and preparing maps and reports.
Email Dan Gillenwater: dan
Jolie Egert
Environmental
Scientist and Manager
M.S., 2002, Natural Resources, Humboldt State University
B.S., 1991, Environmental Science, The Evergreen State College
Ms. Jolie Egert (formerly Jolie Lonner) has over 20 years of experience with environmental advocacy and Natural Resource science. She has managed a myriad of environmental projects ranging from community watershed advocacy to building international coalitions. She is skilled at getting consensus among diverse communities and interests. She founded and directed Go Wild! Consulting a company that fosters and protects healthy ecosystems that include innovative, sustainable and traditional uses by humans. She is a botanist with a specialty in ethnobotany and has completed projects on four continents concerning the sustainable harvest and use of economically and medicinally important plants.
Email Jolie Egert: jolie
Kate Baird
Environmental Scientist
Ph.D., 2005, Hydrology, University of Arizona
M.S., 1987, Biology (Ecology emphasis), San Diego State University
B.A., 1980, Biology and Biosocial Science, Coe College
Mr. Baird's work as a hydroecologist combines my background in plant ecology and habitat restoration with my hydrologic modeling skills. My research interests center on developing and refining process-based, linked ecohydrologic models to predict the hydrological and ecological changes in, and consequences of, riparian water availability. Specifically, I have pursued two lines of research. The first focuses on modeling the link between climate, soil moisture/groundwater conditions, canopy conductance and evapotranspiration. My second is in linking process-based surface water and groundwater models with a riparian recruitment model to evaluate the influence of climatic and anthropogenic stresses on semi-arid ecosystems. Ms. Baird has twenty years experience in analyzing and collecting ecological data including community structure and dynamics, species composition, growth, survivorship, fecundity, water relations and drought adaptations, and effects of fire in numerous habitat types including: Forested and Scrub Riparian Woodland, Chaparral, Coastal Sage Scrub, Desert, Salt Marsh, Native grasslands, and Vernal Pools. Ms. Baird has six years concentrated experience in all aspects of habitat restoration, specializing in endangered species habitat. Developed the habitat model for the endangered Least Bell's Vireo, for Southern California. Consulted as an expert in riparian mitigation by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Army Corps of Engineers and California Department of Fish and Game.
Email Kate Baird: kate
Patricia Marmion
Business Manager
Ms. Marmion brings more than 20 years experience in office administration and management, graphic design, and marketing to WWR.
Email Patricia Marmion: patricia
Darren Gewant, M.S.
Environmental Scientist
San Francisco State University M.A. Marine Biology, 2003
San Francisco State University B.S. Marine Biology, 1998
Darren Gewant completed both his undergraduate and graduate degrees studying the ecology of fish and invertebrate species in the San Francisco Estuary. As a biologist, he has focused on the restoration of marsh and wetland habitats of San Pablo Bay and the Western Delta. Specifically, Mr. Gewant has studied interactions of native and non-indigenous fishes as they relate to habitat restoration efforts. His strong academic training in biological oceanography and long history of research in SFE, allows him to analyze fish data at the population, community, and ecosystem levels.
Email Darren Gewant: darren
