Present Position:
Wetland Soil Scientist
Presently working as a consultant on wetland issues throughout the United States. I am the founder and owner of Hydric Soils, a consultant company based in Alabama.

Education:
Auburn University, B.S., Agronomy (1952)
Soil Science Institute at Cornell University (1967)
Soil Geomorphology Institute at the University of Tennessee (1970)

Affiliations:
American Registry of Certified Professionals in Agronomy, Crops, and Soils (Professional Soil Scientist)
Affiliate of the American Society of Agronomy
Society of Wetland Scientists
Soil Conservation Society of America
Soil Science Society of America

Positions Held:
Research Associate, Center for Biomedical & Toxicological Research and Hazardous Waste Management, Wet Environments Program, Florida State University 1986 - 1990

Soil Scientist, U.S. Department of Interior Fish and Wildlife Service, National Wetlands Inventory (National Hydric Soils Specialists) 1984 - 1986

Soil Scientist, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Soil Conservation Service 1954 - 1986 (specific assignments listed below)

Research Soil Scientist, National Wetlands Inventory, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Research Soil Scientist and Technical Monitor, Waterways Experiment Station, U.S. Department of the Army (Corps of Engineers)

Assistant State Soil Scientist (Mississippi), U.S. Department of Agriculture, Soil Conservation Service

Soil Interpretation Specialist, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Soil Conservation Service

Field Soil Scientist (Alabama, Alaska, Wisconsin), U.S. Department of Agriculture, Soil Conservation Service

Summary of Activities:
Currently a wetland soils consultant working on wetland issues throughout the United States.

Senior Research Associate at the Center for Biomedical & Toxicological Research and Hazardous Waste Management (CBTR) of the Florida State University for three years. Responsibilities at the CBTR included serving as senior technical advisor to the wet environments environmental monitoring program and as a research soil scientist.

Private consultant to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (National Wetlands Inventory), the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Waterways Experiment Station) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and private entities concerning training and professional services relating to the identification and delineation of wetlands with prime responsibility for hydric soils as one parameter for identifying wetlands.

Over thirty years of field experience related to soil classification throughout the U.S. with an emphasis in the states of Alabama, Alaska, and Wisconsin. Field experience relates to: soil classification and mapping; soil interpretation; and the development of soil survey reports and manuals. Participated as an instructor in wetlands delineation training courses held throughout the U.S., including instruction at many courses in the state of Alaska (from Prudhoe Bay to Juneau).

Worked with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in identifying wetlands based on hydric soils and hydrophytic vegetation from 1977 to the present.

Worked as a Soil Scientist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Wetlands Inventory, St. Petersburg, Florida, from January 1, 1984, to March 1, 1986. Major duties included refinement of the list of hydric soils; teaching the identification of hydric soils at courses sponsored by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and other Federal agencies; and furnishing technical assistance in hydric soils to Federal agencies upon request.

In charge of an intra-agency technical ecology group which negotiated a contract with North Carolina State University to develop the methodology for using wetland vegetation for identifying wetlands.

Assigned to the National Wetlands Inventory for four years and was charged with the responsibility of defining hydric soils and developing a national list of hydric soils including publishing the List of Hydric Soils of the United States. This effort involved considerable interagency and interdisciplinary field work and research.

Assigned to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Waterways Experiment Station, for three years and served as the technical monitor for wetland soils and hydrology research being conducted by the Waterways Experiment Station.

Participated in the selection of descriptions and transect layouts for Flood Tolerance Indices for hydrologic zone research conducted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Waterways Experiment Station. Responsible for describing, sampling, and classifying hydric soils for this research.

Monitored the review of the Soil Conservation Service’s list of hydric soils. Chairman of the Interagency Task Force to define and develop criteria for hydric soils and field test the definition and criteria in ten selected states throughout the United States.

Employed by the U.S. Soil Conservation Service as a Soil Scientist for 29 years. Major duties for twelve of those years were conducting field soil surveys. Worked for three of those years as a Soil Interpretation Specialist working with interagency planning groups on the uses of soil surveys and for seven of those years as Assistant State Soil Scientist in Mississippi with the major responsibility for directing 35 field soil scientists conducting soil surveys.

Court Cases:
Hydric Soils Expert:
Big Valley (Northern California)-sponsored by the Waterways Experiment Station
Prudential Life Insurance Property (New Jersey)
Leslie Salt Property (Northern California)
Kebert Property, Conneaut Lake (Meadeville, Pennsylvania)
Oakland Airport (Oakland, California)
Bolsa Chica (Huntington Beach, California)
Biona Site (Los Angeles, California)
Fox Hall West - Rizzo Property (Dover, Delaware)
W. L. Harris v. United States of America - Civil Action No WC91-47-B-D 
United States of America v. Austin Farms et al., No GC-91-39-B-O (N.D. Miss.)
 

Expert Witness:
United States v. Kebert et al., Civil Action No 86-86E (W.D. PA)
United States v. Leslie Salt, Civil Action No C85-8615 (in the Northern District of California)
United States v. Leslie Salt, Civil Action No C86-4187 (in the Northern District of California)
W. L. Harris v. United States, Civil Action No WC91-47-B-D
 

The past two years I have worked on identifying hydric soils for Wetland Delineations for the following properties:
Church Property - Napa East Project - Napa, CA
Village Builders - Dover, DE
Windward Development Properties - Alpharetta, GA
Regional Development and Housing Authority Property - Hampton, VA
Napa Wetland Delineation - Napa Valley, CA
Parchman Properties - Sunflower Co., MS
W.L. Harris Properties - Grenada, MS
North Carolina Waste Management Site - Wake/Chatham Counties, NC
Fore Trucking Co. - Gulfport, MS
Greenleaf Properties - Baltimore, MD
Cypress Lakes Development Properties - Oldsmar, FL
Weyerhaeuser Property - Parker Tract - Plymouth, NC
Leitheisher Properties - McCook Co. - Sioux Falls, SD
Kelly Properties - Destin, FL
Santa Rosa Bridge Authority - Pensacola, FL
Interstate General Company - St. Charles, MD