Senior Geologist
Resume:
PAUL WISNIEWSKI
Responsibility
Project Manager
Education
M.S., Geology, 1999, The University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM – Graduated Magna Cum Laude
B.A., Government, 1994 The College of William & Mary, Williamsburg, VA
Professional Registration
Professional Geologist, California (#7543)
Research Experience
Constructed a fluvio-tectonic model of landscape evolution in northeastern New Mexico. Research involved mapping and correlation of stream terrace alluvial deposits. Work was supported by a NSF grant for the Continental Dynamics of the Rocky Mountains (CDROM) project.
Affiliations
Geological Society of America
40-hour OSHA/RCRA Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response (HAZWOPPER) Standard & 8-hour annual refresher courses. Experience
Mr. Wisniewski is a licensed professional geologist with 11 years of experience in the fields of environmental geology, fluvial geomorphology, watershed geology, neotectonics, and mining geology. He currently supervises the Industrial Hygiene/Hazardous Materials Team in Winzler & Kelly’s Eureka office. Mr. Wisniewski’s diverse professional experience in Utah, Nevada, New Mexico, and California includes:
• Underground Storage Tank investigations and soil and groundwater remediation
• Watershed analysis with focus on process geomorphology and the hydrologic and cumulative effects of land management activities on stream channels and landforms
• Stream channel assessments including terrace deposit mapping, correlation, and historical trends in various stream metrics
• Mineral resources exploration and mined land reclamation including evaluations of streams impacted by mining activities
• Mine permit assistance and reclamation plans
• Sediment transport and basin storage capacity analysis
• Slope and road stability analysis in forested environments with a focus on landslide and sediment source inventory, analysis, and mitigation
• Environmental and geologic hazards assessments and abatements
• Geotechnical and paleoseismic investigations
Mr. Wisniewski has experience with the preparation of construction plans and bid documents, project permitting, project scoping and management, construction management, and regulatory compliance in sensitive environments in California and Utah. He has also conducted public meetings for various projects, including project planning meetings, has worked to encourage public participation, sought and received landowner support and obtained right of way/right of entry permissions, and elicited stakeholder feedback on a number of projects. He often helps clients from project initiation through completion, assisting with writing grants and obtaining project funding, investigation, design, permitting, construction, post project monitoring and long term maintenance.
Mr. Wisniewski’s project experience includes:
• Soil and Groundwater Remediation. Humboldt County, CA
Service line manager for Winzler & Kelly, providing oversight and management of the Hazardous Materials Team in Eureka, CA. Supervised staff geologists and field technicians, conducted quarterly employee evaluations, managed projects, and directed daily operations for over a dozen active soil and groundwater contaminated sites. Provided direct project management for Leaking Underground Storage Tank remediation sites at: Whitethorn Elementary School, Jackson’s Garage, Mad River Lumber, and Blue Lake Forest Produccts, and a residence in Crescent City. Authored, reviewed, and directed the implementation of workplans and corrective action plans, wrote proposals for and implemented subsurface investigations, obtained cost reimbursements from the State of California Underground Storage Tank Cleanup Fund (USTCF), prepared USTCF applications, assisted in the removal of USTs, installed numerous borings and monitoring wells, collected and analyzed soil and groundwater samples, prepared and reviewed numerous quarterly monitoring reports, developed and provided oversight for remediation operations. Determined scope, schedule, and budget for residential and commercial waste impacted sites for a wide variety of contaminants of concern. Interacted directly with clients, state and local agency representatives to ensure fluid and frequent communication and a high level of customer satisfaction and project performance.
• Authored EPA Brownfields Assessment Grant Application. Humboldt Co., CA
Authored a Brownfields assessment grant to obtain $350,000 in funding for the delineation of the vertical and horizontal extent of various hazardous materials and petroleum hydrocarbons in soil and groundwater at the former Eel River Sawmills site.
• Geomorphic Investigations for Dam Removal Projects. Northern CA
Conducted geomorphic and geologic investigations as a component of fish passage improvement projects in Mendocino and Siskiyou Counties. Investigations included detailed mapping of alluvial deposits, channel bed and bank surveys, bulk sediment sampling and laboratory analysis, historical aerial photograph review, channel analog reach characterizations, recommendations pertaining to dam removal, attended technical meetings and drafted technical memorandums.
• Stream Channel Assessments and Watershed Analysis. Upper Eel River and Bear River, California. Managed a team of geologists, geomorphologists, and hydrologists who conducted watershed analysis for an industrial timberland owner/operator geared towards understanding stream channel response to sediment input from hillslopes over decadal time scales. Illustrated existing and historical channel conditions and trends in the Upper Eel River and Bear River watersheds through an analysis of: historical aerial photographs, LIDAR imaging, bulk sediment data, large woody debris data, in-stream erosion and channel metrics, and other geologic and geomorphic data. Utilized various methods to demonstrate historical land management activities, sediment transport and storage capacities within the river systems with a special focus on lateral channel migration and residence time of alluvial sediment along specified reaches. Volumetric calculations were determined through direct field measurements and analysis of a time series of historical aerial photographs. Presented findings to client representatives, co-consultants, and regulatory agency representatives.
• Gravel Mine Permit Assistance. Humboldt County, California. Wrote technical letters of review for over thirty gravel extraction permits and renewals at six Humboldt county locations for a regional surface mine operator. Reviewed and provided technical evaluations of consultant prepared professional reports and advised mine operator on the following permits: Humboldt County Use Permit (CUP), U.S. Army Corp of Engineers Section 404 Permit, and the CA Department of Fish and Game Streambed Alteration Section 1600 permit. Interacted with the County of Humboldt Extraction Review Team (CHERT) representatives to resolve permitting issues and discussed current and future extraction volumes in the context of stream channel topographic surveys, reviews of aerial photographs, and various hydrologic and stream metric data collected and reported in annual pre- and post-extraction reports.
• Mine Reclamation Evaluations and Project Management. Various Utah counties. Inventoried, ranked, and designed plans for a state agency to reclaim lands adversely affected by past mining activities. Worked with the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA) to manage and allocate funds generated through the Abandoned Mine Land (AML) fund. Investigated physical safety hazards and environmental impacts of a wide variety of mine sites to determine appropriate avenues for reclamation. Conducted site inventory work, including site mapping, collected GPS data, digital photograph documentation of sites, evaluated and provided recommendations to mitigate hazards, provided project engineering and construction design, authored construction bid packages, held public meetings, negotiated mine closures with landowners to obtain Right of Entry consent for reclamation work, and provided construction management for the closure of hundreds of hard rock open-pit and underground mines in seven Utah counties.
• Slope Stability Analysis for Timber Harvest Plans. Various northern California locations. Managed and led small teams of geologists and technicians, scoped projects and drafted budgets, authored over twenty geologic reports for timber harvest and timber management plans for industrial and non-industrial timberland owner/operators in Humboldt County. Reviewed literature and remote sensing data, interpreted historical aerial photographs, identified, classified, and mapped landslides, conducted field surveys, and drafted geologic and geomorphic maps at various scales. Evaluated the potential for mass wasting and sedimentation in areas designated for timber harvest and provided recommendations to minimize sediment delivery to watercourses. Evaluated the stability of cut and fill slopes associated with logging road prisms and provided recommendations to mitigate and prevent mass wasting and manage risk. Participated in pre-harvest inspections and assisted regulatory agency representatives in determining alternative methods and scope of proposed timer harvests.
• Road Stability Evaluation. Arcata, CA. Conducted an evaluation of the stability of cut and fill slopes associated with a haul road prism, provided detailed recommendations based on field investigation and mapping that allowed a haul road to be safely re-commissioned for a local timberland owner for use in a non-industrial timber management plan.
• Asbestos Determination. Blue Lake, CA. Conducted field reconnaissance of an open pit rock quarry and associated access roads, collected and submitted samples for laboratory analysis of asbestos content in an effort to determine and manage risk for a non-industrial timberland owner/operator.
• Stream Channel Monitoring Program. Price, Utah. Monitored a stream channel adversely affected by coal mining as well as subsequent reclamation activities. Designed a stream channel monitoring program that included a high-precision GPS survey of stream channel bed and banks, developed a drilling program to define the extent of coal mining waste rock placed as fill within the valley bottom, and utilized 3-D modeling software (ArcInfo GIS & EarthVision) to design a stream restoration plan.
• Paleoseismic Study. Albuquerque, New Mexico. Aided in the reconstruction of the paleoseismic history of several Pleistocene age faults that cut the Llano de Albuquerque surface within the Rio Grande rift as part of an ongoing study supported by a grant from the National Earthquake Hazard Reduction Program (NEHRP). Part of a team of Quaternary geologists that profiled fault scarps, defined, measured, and correlated soil stratigraphic horizons, constructed detailed soils logs, and measured offset on a complex set of conjugate faults exposed in a series of ~6 m deep trenches.
• Precious Metals Exploration. Mercur, Utah. Supervised a tightly scheduled, multi-million dollar gold exploration drilling program that involved directing around-the-clock operations of two full-time drill crews and coordinating movements of heavy equipment during a rare, wintertime exploration effort in the Oquirrh Mountains. Analysis of over 15,000 ft of reverse circulation drill cuttings to determine rock types, alteration types, lithologic contacts, zones of mineralization, and drill hole termination depths.
• Industrial and Precious Metals Exploration and Mine Development. Various western Utah and eastern Nevada locations. Aided in the design and implementation of a precious and industrial metals exploration program and an open-pit copper mine development program. Utilized gravity and magnetic data, aerial photographs, geologic and structural maps to construct cross-sections in order to locate drilling targets. Sampled outcrops for assay, logged over 100,000 feet of drill cuttings and core, and surveyed drill hole locations to locate and define ore bodies and prove reserves. Part of a team of geologists that discovered a carbonate-hosted epithermal gold deposit with an estimated 17,000 ounces of gold near Delta, Utah and defined ore reserves at the OK Copper Mine.
• Environmental Site Assessments. Salt Lake City, Utah. Evaluated the environmental soundness of commercial properties and assisted in the development and implementation of programs to characterize and remediate hazardous waste-contaminated sites. Results included five first-author professional reports. Conducted Phase I Environmental Site Assessments (ESA), supervised the removal of underground storage tanks, prepared Closure Plans/Notices, drafted maps and technical plans. Monitored Phase II remediation projects, sampled waste contaminated soils and groundwater for laboratory analysis, and logged soils from test holes for use in engineering and environmental reports.
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