Wildlands Engineering / News (Page 2)
April 10, 2024 In One + One Initiative

The Wildlands Engineering Team continues to make an impact in our communities

Wildlands recently wrapped up another year of charitable endeavors, impacting over 30 unique organizations through dedicated volunteer efforts and substantial financial contributions.

Through Wildlands’ One+One Initiative, each employee is allotted eight hours per year for community engagement. Since this program’s inception in 2015, the enthusiasm of our team members has been the driving force behind the success of our One+One Initiative. From helping to build affordable houses to participating in writing letters to school-age kids, our team members donated over 560 hours of their time in the past year alone, demonstrating a collective commitment to impacting our surrounding communities. Companywide, 76% of the allotted hours for volunteering were utilized, which reflects the dedication and generosity of our team in supporting meaningful causes and making a tangible impact within our communities.

As we look ahead, our goal is to expand the reach of our program, partnering with new organizations and working towards alleviating pressing needs in our communities. By fostering a culture of giving back, we aim to not only enhance our company’s social footprint but also inspire others to make a positive impact in their communities. Here’s to making a great impact in 2024!

This past year, Wildlands supported and sponsored a classroom for the Letters to a Pre-Scientist program. Through penpalship, this organization has given many of Wildlands’ employees the ability to connect with students from all over the country and inspire them to explore a future in the environmental and water resources industry. Click here to read more about our scientists’ inspiring experience with this program »

 

January 10, 2024 In Industry Insights

Stewardship Corner | Mosses, Liverworts, and Lichen

From the Stewardship Corner | Mosses, Liverworts, and Lichen

An often-overshadowed part of the plant kingdom, mosses, liverworts, and hornworts, make up a small world of their own in ecological communities. Often found growing on stones, stumps, and moist shady corners, these organisms play a quiet but vital role in initiating soil formation, slowing water passage, and recycling nutrients. They also provide habitat for macroinvertebrates, and for them, a mossy mat might feel like a fully grown forest. Unlike other plants, these green fuzzy mats do not form vascular systems that can move nutrients and water throughout their bodies, they instead rely on water and nutrients to come to them. This is why you often find them growing in wet, damp, low lying areas where water and moisture can find them.

Like ferns – mosses, liverworts, and hornworts do not produce flowers or seeds, and instead reproduce through spores. Because of their simpler requirements, these plants can grow where nothing else can, and often act as a pioneer species setting the stage for ecological succession. Their spores can travel miles before landing and spread by the millions. They are also a great indicator of air quality due to their sensitive nature, a welcoming sign while on a walk in the woods.

Lichen is another great indicator of air quality, and although they might look similar and grow alongside their counterparts, lichen is a wholly different form of fascinating life. Lichen is the result of a mutualistic relationship between algae and fungi. While they are not a plant, they still perform photosynthesis as a composite organism. Small but mighty, these species are considered to be keystone species in many ecological communities. How many different species of mosses, liverworts, hornworts, and lichen have you come across recently?

Pictured from Wildlands project sites:

  1. Tortula Moss (Tortula muralis) – Honey Mill Mitigation Site, Surry County, NC
  2. Delicate Fern Moss (Thuidium delicatulum) – Key Mill Mitigation Site, Surry County, NC
  3. Star Moss (Syntrichia ruralis) – Alexander Farm Mitigation Site, Alexander County, NC
  4. Broom Forkmoss (Dicranum scoparium) – Honey Mill Mitigation Site, Surry County, NC
  5. Medusa Moss (Hedwigia ciliata) – Carpenter Bottom Mitigation Site, Gaston County, NC
  6. Great Scented Liverwort (Conocephalum conicum) – Carpenter Bottom Mitigation Site, Gaston County, NC
  7. Lichen (Parmeliaceae) – Lone Hickory Mitigation Site, Yadkin County, NC

📸 Photos by Dominic Dixon, Stewardship Associate | Charlotte, NC Office

  • Tortula Moss (Tortula muralis) – Honey Mill Mitigation Site, Surry County, NC

#wildlandsengineering #stewardshipcorner #ecology #landstewardship #moss #nonvascular #habitatbuilding #environmentalscience #streamrestoration #wetlands #conservation #lichen #liverwort

December 13, 2023 In Firm News, Our Projects

Wildlands plays a role in the 2023 NADO Award for Land of Sky Regional Council Project

The Land of Sky Regional Council (LOSRC) was recently awarded the 2023 NADO Aliceann Wohlbruck Impact Award for their project “Regional Stormwater Services Program – MS4 Information Management System.” The system was configured by Wildlands Engineering for LOSRC who funded and deployed this technology across multiple jurisdictions (Fletcher, Woodfin, Black Mountain, and Weaverville) for a fraction of the cost of typical management systems. It provides a low-cost alternative for smaller jurisdictions that do not use a digital asset management system for stormwater infrastructure.

The MS4 Information Management System is a low-cost alternative for smaller jurisdictions that do not use a digital asset management system for stormwater infrastructure. The MS4 Information Management System is an integrated documentation system for stormwater outfall inspections – both for identifying maintenance needs and for discovering possible illicit discharges; it can also be used for reporting.

The system is built on the esri GIS platform and centrally hosted and managed in ArcGIS Online (AGOL) by LOSRC. Proactive stormwater management is crucial to protecting water quality. LOSRC aims to map all the stormwater systems in the region and uses this system to provide a simple field-based mobile app to support inspections and maintenance. Communities can access the platform anywhere and it’s designed to be used on a tablet or smartphone in the field. The system consists of inspection forms (ArcGIS Survey123), a locationally aware mobile map (ArcGIS Field Maps), and the stormwater system inventory (AGOL). Surveys documenting illicit discharges and/or high priority storm maintenance requirements will trigger an email to the corresponding town public works director. Survey123 also consists of a web-application that provides a data dashboard to review and report on the information collected with the inspection forms.

In the future, the system can be expanded for additional MS4 permit requirements (e.g., SCM inspections, catch basin cleaning, facility, and pavement management).

Wildlands looks forward to providing more quality, accessible, and functional online mapping tools for future clients!

#NADO #award #wildlandsengineering #stormwater #waterquality #ArcGIS #mappingtools #landofsky #ashevillenc #GIS

November 3, 2023 In Uncategorized

A Day in The Life of a Wildlands Environmental Scientist

At Wildlands Engineering we work together to facilitate the success of each project, something that would not be possible without the help of our environmental scientists! Their valuable work and dedication to collecting field data are integral to every phase during the life of a project.

Each challenge in the field and in the office is a rewarding opportunity to bolster knowledge and promote the best practices that will help us conserve and restore the environment. No matter the task or assignment, our main goal is to leave the project we restore in better shape than we found it, making a positive and sustainable impact.

Learn more by hearing from our scientist on what it’s like for a ‘day in the life of an environmental scientist!’