Each SWCA instructor has more than 10 years experience training regulators and clients in a variety of settings. Our dynamic team of instructors develop training courses with client satisfaction as their number one goal.
Dr. Thomas King
Since the late 1960s, Dr. King has worked in cultural resource management (CRM) as an academic, a private consultant, and a government official. He is widely regarded as one of the nation’s leading experts on CRM laws and policies, and on making those laws and polices work in the real world. Dr. King also has extensive archaeological field experience in California and the Pacific islands. His areas of expertise include project review under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act; relating Section 106 review to the concerns of Indian tribes, other indigenous groups, and local communities; and identifying and managing traditional cultural properties (TCPs). Dr. King holds a Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of California, Riverside. He is the author of several textbooks on cultural resource management topics.ing
Matt Petersen
Matt Petersen has more than 14 years of experience in NEPA compliance and associated permitting. He has overseen, managed or worked as a resource specialist on 23 major EISs and specializes in managing the development of large, legally-defensible NEPA planning documents. He has managed NEPA projects as a third-party contractor for major federal land management agencies, including the Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Army Corps of Engineers, Bureau of Indian Affairs, and the Natural Resource Conservation Service. Mr. Petersen has developed the three-day NEPA course and two-day NEPA project management course specifically for environmental professionals. These courses emphasize the practical application of the NEPA process in a controversial and potentially litigious setting.
James W. Steely
Mr. Steely is a historian and architectural historian with more than 30 years of experience in cultural resource management (CRM). Before joining SWCA in 2003 as Senior Historical Consultant, Mr. Steely served in various positions for the Texas State Historic Preservation Officer, including 13 years as Deputy State Historic Preservation Officer. Mr. Steely also taught graduate courses in building documentation, National Register nominations, and evaluation of cultural landscapes at the University of Texas at Austin. His experience in the private sector focuses on historic-property surveys and nominations, coordinating Section 106 with NEPA studies, HABS/HAER/HALS evaluations, and applying the Secretary of the Interior's Standards to preservation projects. He specializes in transportation history, community development, and cultural landscapes research for compliance fulfillment. Mr. Steely’s many publications and professional presentations encompass architecture and city planning; studies of park systems, public works projects, and their politics; and transportation development in the United States.
Brian Nicholson
Brian Nicholson is a wetland resources and community participation specialist with over 13 years of domestic and international experience in collaborating with government agencies and community organizations on aquatic habitat assessment, wetlands monitoring, institutional development, natural resource-based tourism, and environmental education. Mr. Nicholson has worked in wetland and riparian systems through the Intermountain West and is certified in conducting jurisdictional wetland delineations. He has expertise in bringing together stakeholders and coordinating strategies to address freshwater ecosystem management in rural and urban areas. Mr. Nicholson’s teaching experience includes Utah State University courses on Wetland Mitigation and Restoration, and Watershed Science. He has published articles on topics including watershed management, ecosystem services, and social science methodology. Mr. Nicholson earned his M.S. in Watershed Science at Utah State University.
Steve Knox
Steve Knox is a Senior NEPA Specialist with 34 years of NEPA experience through federal service and consulting as a land use planner, wilderness specialist, outdoor recreation planner, visual resources specialist, forester, supervisor, team leader, and project manager. Mr. Knox has led many environmental assessment (EA) and environmental impact statement (EIS) teams throughout his career, including simple EAs for recreation, wildlife, and livestock facilities to complex programmatic wilderness and land use planning EISs. At SWCA, Mr. Knox provides quality control for preparation of NEPA documents, and serves as a NEPA trainer, project manager, and team member. Throughout his career he has instructed classes in NEPA, land use planning, wilderness management, recreation management, and visual resources management.
Dr. Richard Valdez
Dr. Valdez is a Certified Fisheries Professional with the American Fisheries Society. He has worked with fisheries issues throughout the western United States, Canada, Alaska, and Hawaii, and has personally conducted research on over 25 federally threatened and endangered species. As a former U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service employee and endangered species coordinator, Dr. Valdez has been involved in numerous Section 7 consultations. He has written or assisted in writing numerous species recovery plans, including the endangered Colorado pikeminnow, humpback chub, razorback sucker, and bonytail. Dr. Valdez is co-editor of the book “The Controlled Flood in Grand Canyon.” He has served on several science panels for threatened and endangered species, and has served as a member of the Colorado River Fishes Recovery Team and as an appointed advisor to the Rio Grande Fishes Recovery Team. Dr. Valdez is Senior Scientific Advisor for SWCA and assists with research design; data collection, analysis, and interpretation; and development of professional manuscripts.
Richard Young
Richard Young, PE, PG, is a licensed Professional Engineer and Geologist with over 25 years of consulting and business management experience working with municipal, private and federal clients on a broad range of environmental, sustainability and climate change management projects throughout the United States. He was one of the founding partners of the Environmental Performance Group, a full service sustainability consulting firm.
Mr. Young has a broad range of experience in strategic planning, environmental baseline assessments, carbon and ecological footprinting, sustainability management programs, eco-business strategies, stakeholder communication and employee engagement. He has presented on topics such as the business case for sustainability at industry conferences across the United States and participates on several Boards and advisory panels.
Andrew Hultgren
Andrew Hultgren is a sustainability project manager and expert in carbon footprint and ecological footprint analyses. Mr. Hultgren specializes in and has successfully consulted many leading businesses on environmental baseline assessments, including carbon and ecological footprinting, water assessments, and waste stream assessments; sustainability plan and program development; and employee education. He also has experience in green product development and marketing.
Mr. Hultgren served on the Technical Expert Panel involved in the development of The Climate Registry’s Electric Power Sector Reporting Protocol, which defines greenhouse gas reporting requirements for Registry members involved in electricity production, transmission, and distribution. He is currently a member of the GreenBiz Intelligence Panel, a Greener World Media sustainable business research initiative. Mr. Hultgren holds a B.S.E in Chemical Engineering from Princeton University.
