Message from the President
Dear OCAEP Members and Friends,
Happy summer! The year is more than halfway done and we hope you have been enjoying all of our networking events and educational programs. Our annual joint OCAEP/OCAPA Angels Game was a huge success and we would like thank everyone who came. We would also like to thank the City of Irvine for continually offering venues for our programs. As we keep progressing into the year please keep an eye out for our flyers pertaining to educational lunch programs and networking opportunities. Additionally, as a reminder, the 2020 AEP Conference Call for Presentations deadline is August 31, 2019. The 2020 AEP Conference will be hosted by the Central Chapter in beautiful Yosemite. The theme of this conference is "Planting the Seeds of Knowledge.” As always, we hope to see you at our upcoming events!
Sincerely,
Pierre Glaize
President, OCAEP
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Recent Programs & Events
Goat Grazing for Wildland Management
Tuesday, May 21, 2019
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Our May lunch program, Goat Grazing for Wildland Management, was presented by Alissa Cope of Sage Environmental Group (Sage) at the Irvine City Hall. City of Irvine Mayor Christina Shea provided a short introduction by speaking about the City’s progressive move towards natural and organic wildland management with the use of Sage’s in-house goat herd to control non-native grasses and fuel load (e.g., vegetation that typically provide fuel for wildfires) in Irvine’s open space areas. Alissa then provided an overview of goat grazing as a natural approach in Sage’s weed management toolkit. Compared to traditional pesticides or weeding methods, goat grazing targets and consumes unwanted vegetation leaving behind cleared terrain and can be implemented in steep areas where hand or mechanical equipment is not feasible. Goats also eat a lot, and quickly, which means the herd can clear target non-native species and fuel loads across many acres in just a few days. As expected, the audience had plenty of questions for Alissa on this progressive and fun method of wildland management. Thank you Alissa and Mayor Christina Shea for such an insightful program! And thank you to the City of Irvine for a great venue as well.
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Joint OCAEP/ASCE OC Happy Hour
Thursday May 23, 2019
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On Thursday, May 23, OCAEP partnered with the American Society of Civil Engineers Orange County Branch (ASCE OC) for an excellent networking happy hour at the Auld Dubliner. Cheers to the environmental and engineering professionals that constitute our membership and strive to enhance, maintain, and protect the natural and built environments of the communities we serve!
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Angels vs. Mariners Baseball Game & Tailgate
Friday June 7, 2019
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The OCAEP/OCAPA Angels Game and Tailgate, held on June 7 at Angels Stadium against the Seattle Mariners, was a success. Although the Angels did not win this game, the weather was perfect for eating delicious Costco hot dogs and fixin’s and networking at the tailgate. Once inside, we watched the game from great seats in the Terrace All-Star section and we even scored a cool leather logo Angels hat giveaway. This game is typically one of our best attended events of the year and we are already looking forward to seeing you all at the game next year!
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Announcements
OCAEP 2019 Scholarship Program - Sponsored by VCS Environmental
Please stay tuned for our next quarterly newsletter to learn about this year's exciting winners of the 2019 Scholarship Program!
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OCAEP@UC Irvine
Environmental Career Panel
Thursday, May 9, 2019
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On May 9, 2019, the OCAEP at UC Irvine held their 2nd Annual Environmental Career Panel. Both students and professionals were treated with the opportunity to learn about the everyday working life and more complicated aspects of being an environmental professional in various fields including Watershed Management, Restoration Ecology, Transportation Planning, Cultural Resources, and Hydro-engineering. Those in attendance were able to ask some technical but also unconventional questions to the panelists and many students stayed after the event for some one-on-one time with the professionals who volunteered their time. A BIG thank you to the panelists who offered invaluable insights to the future generation of environmental professionals in Southern California. The panelists included Grant Sharp (OC Public Works), Anisha Malik (Michael Baker Int.), Meghan Macias (EPD Solutions), Breana Campbell (Rincon), and Terrence Chan (Michael Baker Int.).
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Newport Valley Riparian Restoration Day
Saturday, May 18, 2019
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On May 18th, the members of OCAEP at UC Irvine partnered with Project Grow, a non-profit organization, to volunteer on an ecological restoration project in Newport Beach. Led by the ecologist Marcus Goncalves, the student members removed invasive plant species and introduced native plant species like willows, mulefat, and rushes. This event directly contributed to the overall restoration of riparian habitats in the Newport Valley. It was a great opportunity for the student members to socialize while learning about the local ecology.
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TIPS OF THE QUARTER
CEQA specifies that alternatives need not be analyzed with the same degree of specificity as the proposed project. However, even with this acknowledgement, care should be taken to ensure that resource area analyses in the alternatives section (1) provide enough meaningful detail to permit informed decisionmaking and (2) are not conclusory, but supported by substantial evidence and reasonable inferences.
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