Chuck Swanson, Project Engineer in our Eureka civil engineering group, will attend the California Rural Water Association Expo in Lake Tahoe, CA. Please stop by our table to pick up useful swag (not destined for the landfill!). You can also download our general brochure here.
SHN will send staff to the North Coast College and Career Expo at the Eureka campus of the College of the Redwoods (September 14, 2023), to Chico State's Technical Career Fair (September 21, 2023), and to Cal Poly Humboldt's 1st Engineering Internship and Job Fair (October 26, 2023). Students of environmental and civil engineering, environmental and biological sciences, geology, planning, materials testing, and surveying should stop by the SHN table to pick up information in careers in those disciplines. To save paper and limit waste, here is an electronic brochure that describes SHN; it shows what we do and who we are. Hope to see you there!
Ethan "Red Eagle" Lawton was interviewed by the American Planning Association (APA) and it is published in the "Meet a Local Planner" column of the APA Northern News. The column is in Q&A format, with questions such as "If you were to teach a tribal planning course, how would you go about it?" and "Can you share some examples of your work and how it made a difference?" You can read the whole article from this link here.
Sponsored by the North Coast Association of Environmental Professionals and the American Planning Association, Ethan "Red Eagle" Lawton, Tribal Liaison at SHN, will be presenting on Tribal Cultural Resource Mitigations. The primary purpose is to provide non-tribal entities a better understanding of the purpose and outcome of tribal consultation, a brief comparison of SB18 and AB 52, determining a Tribal Cultural Resources (TCR's), establishing a threshold of significance, and the importance of collaborating with tribal representatives. This presentation will briefly cover Cultural Resources, definition and examples of TCR's, and TCR best practices. Q&A will follow the presentation. Register in advance for this webinar at this link here.
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Welcome to our client log-in page. For access to SHN's FTP site please click below:
Enter your username and password to access your project files. If you have not received a username and/or password please contact your project manager for assistance.
SHN’s mission statement is:
"SHN delivers adaptive solutions for successful projects."
With that mission in mind, SHN is organized into the following professional service groups:
Construction of a soldier pile wall at Klamath Beach Road
Civil engineering is the profession that designs and constructs public works. SHN’s civil engineers design and build water and wastewater systems, prepare project sites, improve transportation, manage construction, and perform special inspections.
SHN extends the profession by pursuing new methods and technologies; for example, SHN is a leader in trenchless technologies, mechanically stabilized embankments, and Low Impact Design (LID).
The following is a partial list of SHN’s civil engineering services:
SHN has provided surveying services for over 35 years, and we are now also providing services related to use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), also known as "drones". In a quickly evolving field, SHN surveyors, pilots, and information technology staff are creating new methods of mapping, measurement, and visualization using drones and supporting data management systems.
SHN's drone program is different because our licensed pilots are professional licensed surveyors and geologists. We combine our expertise in mitigation monitoring, restoration planning, and large-scale earth and materials movement with drones and traditional surveying techniques. We use aerial imagery and video to engage the public and better describe projects. We have provided drone services to assist clients in these industries:
Traditional surveying services continue to be in demand. Our surveying experience covers a range of land uses, including residential, commercial, and industrial development; urban and rural roads, streets, and bridges; highways; subdivisions; water and wastewater treatment facility sites; private and public forest lands; public and private landfills; and wetlands, estuaries, and bays and rivers (bathymetric surveying).
The following is a partial list of SHN’s surveying services.
Surface water sampling
SHN has provided environmental services for over 35 years, and we continue to find new, faster, and less expensive ways to remediate, limit, and prevent environmental impacts. For example:
We have remediated contaminated sites using simple, creative, cost-effective technologies, such as passive remediation and monitored natural attenuation, as well as more complex methods such as chemical oxidation, ozone, and a variety of other technologies. We have closed investigations on more than 1,000 sites, including state and federal Brownfield sites. We enjoy a respectful relationship with regulatory agencies; our fastest project from investigation to closure required just 4 months.
SHN offers environmental services in these broad categories:
Coos Bay sediment sampling
“If … I had to restrict all this writing to one sentence, this is the one I would choose: the summit of Mount Everest is marine limestone.”
― John McPhee, Basin and Range, 1981.
SHN geologists and geotechnical engineers bring to your projects:
These “value added” characteristics can save you money by decreasing the time required for us to understand, evaluate, and solve your geologic or geotechnical problems.
We assist clients with:
We have extensive experience in installing and interpreting state-of-the-art slope monitoring devices (inclinometers), and designing and constructing a wide variety of slope repair systems. We have been and continue to be responsible for many projects involving slope stability hazards and slope failures in Northwest California and Southwestern Oregon. Most of these projects have involved recommending specific remediation measures and design criteria.
The following is a partial list of SHN’s geoscience services:
Concrete testing during construction of a hospital addition in Eureka, CA
Construction inspectors and materials-testing technicians are vitally important, yet the general public has little appreciation of them—until something fails! At SHN, we understand that successful engineering design and construction depends on reliable and strong materials and connections. We help minimize our clients’ construction risks through testing and inspection services, and our inspection teams have developed strong reputations for reliability and professionalism.
SHN’s materials laboratories and special inspection services bring more value than others’ testing services in two important ways:
SHN provides these standard tests and special inspections services:
SHN’s materials labs are located in Eureka and Willits, California, and in North Bend, Oregon.
To see a complete and detailed list of materials tests for which we are certified, please download a full brochure of our tests.
The Dignity Health complex will contribute to the City of Redding’s standing as a regional hub for medical care.
SHN’s clients who need planning services generally fall into one of two categories:
Whether public or private, people needing planning services are often facing complex and intertwined problems such as scheduling and funding/financial pressures, adjacent landowners’ concerns, regulatory hurdles, and controversy from parties not supporting the project. Our solutions are based on 30+ years of planning experience, providing options, strategies, and contingencies.
We develop alternatives for clients and alert them to decision points at the right time, so that we are anticipating and responding—not reacting—to issues and problems that arise during project development.
Environmental permitting is location specific. SHN’s primary planning and permitting experience is in California and Oregon, although we do have some experience in Washington. Environmental permitting common to California and Oregon includes:
Specific to California, environmental permitting often includes:
Specific to Oregon, environmental permitting often includes:
Municipal planning is another aspect of SHN’s expertise. We act as extensions of planning staff and assist city and county planning departments with their:
In April 2016, Streamline Planning Consultants and SHN merged to strengthen SHN’s planning capabilities and better serve our clients, especially in municipal planning. SHN now maintains an office in Arcata, CA where Streamline’s offices were formerly located.
Access to eel grass sampling areas on Humboldt Bay
To properly define and site new projects or expand existing ones, SHN’s professional engineers, geologists, and planners realize that understanding the biological environment is critical. Offering biological services completes the range of client needs that SHN strives to provide, and we have acquired biological expertise by hiring well qualified, energetic, and enthusiastic biologists and botanists.
Biologists and botanists increase project value by finding ways that a project can still occur but with less impact, and therefore less regulation, permitting, and cost. For example, delineating a wetland and moving the project outside of its vicinity is a good example of mitigation by avoidance. Fish relocation during temporary dewatering bridge or road construction is another avoidance mitigation that SHN has successfully conducted.
Although fish, particularly salmonids, receive much environmental attention, other aquatic organisms such as amphibians, turtles, and eels are also special status species. One of our earliest aquatic organism passage projects was in 1982, for the Hoopa Valley Public Utilities District. Since then we have designed or assessed fish passage projects for transportation construction companies, land trusts, and non-governmental organizations such as California Trout.
Sometimes biological research is needed to determine if impacts may occur; for example, we are performing multi-year studies to monitor habitat restoration success associated with the Highway 101 bypass near Willits, CA.
The following is a partial list of SHN’s biological services:
SHN serves a diverse group of clients, covering the Northern California and Southern Oregon region. We are particularly proud that cities and local governments trust us with their ever-tightening capital improvement budgets.
Listening to client at a biomass electricity generation facility
Approximately one-third of our revenue comes from construction and development companies, a broad category that includes small and large companies, professional (legal and health care) firms, financial institutions, non-profit corporations, the forest products industry, and many others.
SHN’s early success was based in large part on the forest products industry, and today, over 35 years later and with global changes in the industry, many of our original forest products clients are still with us. To the forest products industry, and all clients who have reached out to us over the years, we are deeply appreciative of your long-lasting relationships and trust.
A snapshot of SHN’s local government clients, who trust us with their ever-tightening capital improvement budgets
In keeping with our involvement and support of our local communities, approximately one third of our business is with cities and counties, and approximately 10% is with special districts. Local and regional government officials and their staff trust us to utilize taxpayers’ money efficiently by looking for innovative and appropriate solutions, never by doing the minimum.
Our best and most recent examples of this trust is our work with the City of Coos Bay and the City of Eureka. For the City of Coos Bay, we designed a large (8.2 million gallons per day, MGD) wastewater treatment plant, which improved on the existing plant in two primary ways. First, we modified the City’s existing activated sludge process to a sequencing batch reactor process, which improved treatment and effluent quality. Second, we changed the disinfection process from chlorine to ultraviolet (UV) disinfection.
For the City of Eureka, our redesign of the wastewater collection system saved energy and pumping costs by eliminating 13 pumping stations. Use of trenchless technologies limited disturbance to wetlands and other sensitive habitats during pipe installation. Click City of Eureka Martin Slough Project for more information.
I look forward to taking your project to the Planning Commission for consideration…We appreciate and admire the quality of the work effort that you and your consultants have put into the project and we look forward to working with you to bring it to completion.”
–Liz Shorey
Deputy Director and Senior Planner,
City of Fortuna
Hazardous materials investigation at a CalFire site
SHN has a long history of working with State (California and Oregon) and Federal agencies. Our work for these agencies has been in each of our services areas, with significant work completed by SHN’s environmental, civil engineering, geosciences, materials testing, and planning and permitting professionals.
A few of the state and federal agencies we have provided services to include:
In Oregon:
In California:
Federal agencies that we have worked with include:
Portion of Indian Island, on which SHN remediated historical boat dock contamination
Tribal governments select SHN for assistance on projects requiring environmental and biological planning, NEPA documentation, water and wastewater system designs, road designs, housing development planning, surveying, and special inspections during construction. SHN’s locations in Northern California and Southern Oregon are geographically close to Tribal lands, allowing our staff to understand local planning and development issues that could affect tribal interests.
One example of how our local presence is a significant value to Tribes, is our work with the Wiyot Tribe, who asked us to assist in remediating environmental contamination related to an historical ship maintenance facility at the Indian Island Tuluwat Village site. Recognizing the cultural sensitivity of the site, we worked with the Tribe to train archeologists so that they could recognize and preserve culturally significant features, while limiting their exposure to hazardous materials left from ship maintenance. The site was remediated and returned to conditions reminiscent of the Wiyot Tribe’s past. As a result, the Tribe was able to begin reusing their ancestral lands.
SHN has been an exceptional environmental service organization to work with…SHN gave a very competitive bid with the personal attention to detail making sure communication with the Tribe and Council was foremost. I would highly recommend SHN for environmental services based on their commitment to quality and effective relationship building coupled with their full complement of staffing needs relative to environmental issues.”
–Scott L. Aikin
Former Deputy Regional Director of Indian Services for BIA Northwest Region,
currently USFWS’s National Native American Liaison
A snapshot of SHN’s recent special district clients
Special districts are community-formed local governments, usually created for a specific need, such as water, fire protection, reclamation, harbor, cemetery management, or wastewater management. Some special districts serve multiple needs, such as water, sewer, and parks and recreation. SHN is happy to be involved in our local communities’ needs and services, and we appreciate the trust that the Boards of Directors and General Managers of these special districts place in our staff.
In recent years, SHN has served and continues to serve special districts that were formed for:
Construction of bridges on Highway 101, SHN provided geotechnical, materials testing, and construction inspection services
SHN can assist in construction projects of any size, from residential pavement testing, to unique and complex nuclear plant decommissioning. We work with construction firms ranging in size from small family-owned businesses to multinational corporations ranked in the Top 100 by Engineering News Record. We provide site civil design, special inspections, materials testing, surveying, geologic investigations, drainage and stormwater runoff design and compliance, and environmental assessment and remediation.
Our safety program and record meet the very stringent requirements needed when working in construction zones. Construction firms and contractors know that SHN regards safety as an extremely important component of the job. Our staff knows that health and safety is critical to SHN’s sustainability, values, and mission.
Our special certification inspectors carry multiple certifications, and when on the job site, they recognize when additional testing may be needed. They consult the construction engineer, carry the equipment necessary to perform additional inspections or on-site materials testing, and thus can eliminate delays in waiting for soils and material testing technicians to arrive.
SHN provided materials testing and construction inspections for the hospital 3-story addition
Following the 1971 San Fernando earthquake, during which several hospitals were damaged, new hospitals have been subject to strict design and construction standards. Rigorous geohazard assessment and geotechnical characterization are mandated by the California Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development, and SHN has significant experience achieving these standards.
In 2015, SHN completed a comprehensive fault rupture hazard investigation and geotechnical characterization for the new regional Frank R. Howard hospital facility in Willits. This new hospital (opened in September 2015) is located adjacent to an active fault on a Holocene flood plain subject to high liquefaction potential. Siting a hospital in these challenging geologic conditions required investigation, documentation, and hazard mitigation at the highest standards of our industry.
Hospitals that have recently utilized our services include:
SHN provided surveying and solar panel construction inspection and geologic assistance at numerous schools in the Willits Unified School District.
School, college, and university buildings are critical structures that require special design and construction considerations, including fire and seismic safety, and accessibility. Title 5 of the California Code of Regulations contains the standards for student safety and educational appropriateness for school construction and modernization.
In recent years, we assisted in modernizing buildings in over 20 school or university districts; some of the districts have been SHN clients for many years, and many of our own children attend these elementary, middle, and high schools and universities. We perform materials testing and special inspections, water supply and treatment design and grant administration, geotechnical characterizations and seismic evaluations, storm damage assessment, and drainage and infrastructure evaluations. Universities and colleges that are recent clients include:
U.S. Energy Information Administration, 2015. Annual Energy Outlook 2015. Executive Summary. April 14, 2015. http://www.eia.gov/forecasts/aeo/executive_summary.cfm July 28, 2015.
SHN works with energy companies that obtain energy from liquid natural gas, nuclear energy, hydropower, biomass generation, and wind. We are providing civil and geotechnical engineering, environmental services, planning and permitting, and biological support at a liquid natural gas terminal in southern Oregon. We are also creating innovative geologic and geotechnical methods at a nuclear plant decommissioning project in northern California; environmental professionals and geologists are constructing a soil-mix wall that when finished, will allow the excavation and removal of the decommissioned reactor.
The U.S. Energy Information Agency predicts increases in U.S. energy production, categorized by sources of generation. SHN plans to continue assisting the energy industry in the production, transport, development, and permitting of both conventional and renewable energy sources.
“Development companies” is a category that encompasses a wide range of clients, typically including those who are, or are planning to, undertake some form of land development or construction project. Clients who are included in this category represent:
A career is an individual’s journey of learning and work, and whether SHN is a quick side-trip or a long and rewarding segment depends on the similarities of our future paths. SHN’s path is one that values enhancing our communities and creating a rewarding environment for employees and shareholders. We value team work, life-long learning, and family, health and work balance.
SHN’s redesign of the sewer system eliminated overflows to Martin Slough, saved the City and taxpayers $2.8 million in construction costs, and decreased future energy use by eliminating 13 pumping stations.
SHN geologists investigated a known fault system to determine potential seismic hazards to the dam. Trenchscan technology was used to record images that were later digitally merged to create a single image of the entire trenched area.
Beginning in 2012, SHN’s Biologist of Record managed a crew of 30 biologists that identified nesting locations of birds, prepared and implemented salmonid relocation and dewatering plans, conducted Northern Spotted Owl surveys, and prepared daily and quarterly reports documenting the interactions between construction activities and regulated biological resources.
Since 1995, SHN has performed environmental site investigation, hydrology studies, surveys, permitting, remediation design, and infrastructure evaluation and repair designs at 46 sites for CAL FIRE, the California state agency for real estate services (DGS-RESD), and the Division of the State Architect.
With Ann Baker Landscape Architecture, SHN assisted in the design of the Museum’s new outdoor nature education facility, incorporating stormwater wetlands and bioretention areas, and encouraging groundwater recharge with infiltration trenches and permeable pavements.
SHN’s field and laboratory efforts were observed and approved by inspectors from the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development (OSHPD), the agency that ensures safe healthcare facilities.
“The Peninsula Light Company and its members will continue to benefit from your efforts long into the future due to the project’s sustainability. On my part, I would like to express my congratulation and gratitude for the professionalism, effort, and persistence you exhibited during the execution of this challenging HDD project. I would be proud to work alongside any of your crew members and staff that brought success to this project.”
Corporate Office:
812 W. Wabash Ave.
Eureka, CA 95501-2138
Tel: 707-441-8855
Fax: 707-441-8877
info@shn-engr.com
Office Locations:
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