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. 

SHN urges our clients--especially municipal, county, and special district clients--to support AB 334, which will clarify conflict of interest laws related to public works infrastructure procurement.  Currently, Section 1090 precludes professionals from participating in subsequent phases of projects if they have had any involvement in a previous phase.  This means that small and rural municipalities must contract with another professional firm, which might have little or no prior experience with the project.  The new firm's fees will include time to “come up to speed” and the time delay and increased fees are things that small and rural municipalities and districts cannot afford.  Download an AB 334 fact sheet here, and contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. if you'd like to send an email letter of support for AB 334.

SHN is continuing to assist the Humboldt Bay Harbor District as it positions to become a full-service facility that supports offshore wind development.  At the 70-acre Redwood Marine Terminal II site, SHN provided preliminary geotechnical investigations, a ground improvements analysis, foundation studies, an environmental data gaps analysis and work plan, a landfill gas investigation, topographical surveys, and a demolition and disposal plan. Our drone pilots flew several times during the pre-project planning assessment activities.  Our environmental compliance work on the site began in 1997 and remediation by in-situ chemical oxidation continues today.  In 2015, SHN began conducting an analysis for the pulp mill infrastructure, including the outfall and intake pipes, docks, discharge, and natural resources. 

SHN will send staff representing biology, planning, engineering, materials testing, and surveying to Cal Poly Humboldt's Career Expo, live and in person, on February 16, 2023.  Students of environmental and civil engineering, environmental sciences, geology, planning, 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!  (Engineering students: we anticipate 25+ companies and agencies recruiting!)

Bob Brown, AICP, SHN’s Planning Principal, and Maia Singer and Lauren Dusek of Stillwater Sciences, will present “CEQA, Dam Removal, and Restoration of the Klamath River” at the Association of Environmental Professionals State Conference, in April 2022.  There are four PacifiCorp hydroelectric dams on the Klamath River, in Northern California and Southern Oregon.  Their removal will be the most significant dam removal and river restoration effort ever attempted in the United States.  The project will restore native anadromous fish access to potentially hundreds of miles of mainstem river and tributary habitat, and will restore riparian habitat along approximately 18 miles of river and tributary confluences that are currently inundated by reservoirs.  In the long term, dam removal will also improve water quality, reduce the incidence of disease among salmonids, and support commercial fisheries and tribal communities that depend on Klamath Basin fisheries as an important cultural resource.