​Patrick Santoso
Patrick is a founding shareholder and principal at Axiomatic, a technology consulting and business re-engineering firm headquartered Portsmouth New Hampshire. Patrick Received his undergraduate and graduate degrees in Civil Engineering from the University of New Hampshire and is a Certified Green Snow Pro Instructor with the State of New Hampshire. He has trained over 1,400 students in effective and efficient winter maintenance practices, and has been empaneled in national salt reduction forums. Patrick won an EPA Environmental Merit Award in 2013 and the NHDES Salt Shaker Award – James Bond Category in 2015 for his winter maintenance salt reduction work in New Hampshire. When not working Patrick Serves on the Board of Directors for the New Hampshire and Vermont Chapter of the American Red Cross, and enjoys running, and motorcycling.
Phill Sexton​
Phill is the Founder & Managing Director for WIT Advisers who provide consultation, training and the Sustainable Winter Management™ (SWiM) certification for the landscape, winter, and facility management industries. WIT Advisers and Phill is the industry adviser and liaison for the Snow & Ice Management Association (SIMA). He also serves as a Professor (Adjunct) at the Center of Agriculture and Natural Resources of the State University of New York (SUNY) at Cobleskill where he teaches the school’s landscape firm management course and also co-founded the first college accredited snow management curriculum in North America. Phill’s education includes a Master’s Degree in Sustainability from Harvard University with a focus on corporate sustainability and innovation. His thesis research – A Sustainability Analysis of the Commercial Winter Management Industry’s Use of Salt – is published and archived by Harvard University.
David Blackmore
David is the North West Region District Maintenance Administrator. He has have worked for VTrans maintenance for going on 45 years including winter maintenance. His district was the first in the state to set up a brine maker distribution and start applying salt brine on Vermont state highways. They also designed the current super tanker plow trucks that apply salt and brine
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SPEAKERS.
Chris Navitsky​
Chris has been the Lake George Waterkeeper for over ten years; a program initiated by the Fund for Lake George in 2002. The Lake George Waterkeeper program utilizes engineering and science based approach to defend the natural public resources of Lake George and its basin for the common good of the watershed and community. Chris has been recognized as the 2005 Conservationist of the Year by the Adirondack Council and has been featured in publications such as Adirondack Life. Chris is a graduate from the SUNY - College of Environmental Science and Forestry at Syracuse University in environmental engineering and a licensed Professional Engineer in New York and Pennsylvania. Prior to becoming the Waterkeeper, Chris worked for 16 years in consulting engineering focused on site development and municipal engineering with strengths in wastewater design, stormwater management and erosion control. The Lake George Waterkeeper is a member of Waterkeeper Alliance which has over 175 waterkeepers protecting waterbodies around the world
Eric Howe​
Eric became the Director of the Lake Champlain Basin Program and Champlain Valley National Heritage Partnership in 2016. Eric joined the LCBP in 2009 as the Technical Coordinator, where he managed LCBP-funded research projects and coordinated the LCBP Technical Advisory Committee. He holds a Ph.D. in Natural Resources and an M.S. degree in Wildlife and Fisheries Biology from the University of Vermont, and undergraduate degrees in environmental biology and ecology from SUNY-Environmental Science and Forestry and Paul Smith’s College. His research experience includes examining the effects of shoreline development on the quality of shallow-water habitat in Vermont’s inland lakes and ponds, sea lamprey management in Lake Champlain, acid deposition on numerous Adirondack ponds, aquatic plant management, and extensive water quality monitoring experience in New York and Vermont. Eric lives in Williston, VT with his wife, two children, and a dog where he is an avid gardener and explores the art of freestyle cooking. Eric is also a member of the Williston Conservation Commission.
Dana Allen
Dana is currently the Water Quality Specialist for Watershed Consulting Associates in Burlington, VT. Watershed Consulting specializes in stormwater management and erosion control design and permitting throughout Vermont and New England. In his role with Watershed Consulting, Dana has worked with State and local governmental officials, non-profit organizations, and private industry on operational stormwater management design and permitting, bioretention design and management, and hydrologic and hydraulic modeling.
Dana’s specialties include the sampling and analysis of water from both point and non-point sources for nutrient pollution assessment and management, Geographic Information Systems database creation, analysis, and management for water quality and hydrologic modeling, pollutant modeling, Low-Impact Development design and water quality sampling, and stormwater permit preparation.
Dana grew up on the coast of Maine, attended Middlebury College where he received his Bachelor's in Geography and Environmental Studies, and then received his Master's of Science from UVM's Department of Plant and Soil Science specializing in water quality and green infrastructure design. He currently lives in Waterbury.
Brittany Christenson
Brittany Christenson is the Executive Director of AdkAction, a non-profit dedicated to promoting vibrant communities while preserving the character of the Adirondacks. Brittany hails from the Northwestern United States and has traveled extensively in South America. Now that Brittany and her husband Lucas have settled permanently in New York, she has decided to dedicate her career to leaving the Adirondacks better than she found them.
Mrs. Christenson has served as the Administrator and Office Manager at Fledging Crow Vegetables where she honed her skills in membership management, public outreach, and grant administration. While with Fledging Crow, she managed packing and logistics while overseeing a staff of up to 20 seasonal employees. Prior to her experience at Fledging Crow, Brittany worked with the North Country Healthy Heart Network as their Community Nutrition Coordinator where she learned how to build community buy-in and develop innovative program evaluation metrics. She received her Bachelor's degree in mathematics from Carroll College in Helena, Montana.
You may reach Brittany by emailing her at brittany@adkaction.org
Todd Law
Todd is currently the State Maintenance Engineer for the Vermont Agency of Transportation where his position is focused on performance management and winter operations and research. Todd previously worked in Essex and Montpelier, Vermont in the municipal Public Works Departments as the Assistant Director and Director where storm water management and winter maintenance were significant parts of his position. Prior to municipal government, Todd worked as a consultant civil engineer for a Vermont based engineering firm where he specialized in utilities and water resources. Todd is a former member of the American Public Works Association and current Technical Advisory Committee member of the Clear Roads pooled fund project. Clear Roads is a national research consortium focused on rigorous testing of winter maintenance materials, equipment and methods for use by highway maintenance crews. Todd grew up in central Vermont and attended Norwich University where he received his Bachelors of Science degree in Civil Engineering. He currently lives in Orange.
The Lake Champlain Watershed Deicing Conference is proudly coordinated by:
Lake Champlain Sea Grant is dedicated to improving the understanding and management of Lake Champlain, Lake George and their watersheds for long-term environmental health and sustainable economic development.
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A cooperative program of the University of Vermont and SUNY Plattsburgh, Lake Champlain Sea Grant is a part of a national network of 35 projects and programs at coastal and Great Lakes colleges, coordinated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
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Lake Champlain Sea Grant (LCSG) develops and supports research, outreach and education programs to empower communities, businesses and other stakeholders in the Lake Champlain Basin to make informed decisions regarding the management, conservation, utilization and restoration of their aquatic resources for long-term environmental health and sustainable economic development.
For more information please visit the website.
The Winooski Natural Resources Conservation District is one of 14 Conservation Districts throughout Vermont. It encompasses all of Chittenden and Washington County as well as parts of Orange County. The WNRCD encompasses parts of more than five different drainage basins including: the Winooski River, LaPlatte River, Lamoille River, White River and Lake Champlain. The District completes valuable conservation projects within the areas of agricultural assistance, forestland enhancement, urban conservation and watershed stewardship. Initiatives depend on partnering with watershed associations, conservation commissions, towns, the public and state and federal agencies to identify projects and to address the common goal of soil and water conservation within the District and beyond. For more information please visit: www.winooskinrcd.org
Mindy Morales-Williams
Dr. Morales-Williams joined the faculty of the Rubenstein School in August 2017. Her research and teaching program will focus on nutrient flux and energy flow via land-water linkages and address the role of anthropogenic disturbance and climate change processes in the formation and maintenance of harmful cyanobacteria blooms. She will teach a limnology course in the fall.
She recently completed her doctoral degree in the Department of Ecology, Evolution and Organismal Biology at Iowa State University. She worked in Dr. John A. Downing’s limnology laboratory to investigate triggers of cyanobacterial dominance in lakes. For the past year, she was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Minnesota, where she investigated the impacts of terrestrial biodiversity on downstream aquatic microbial communities
Tim Clear
Tim Clear received a BS degree in Forest Biology from SUNY Environmental Science and Forestry at Syracuse. Since that time, he’s spent the last 28 years of his professional career working in the Northeast U.S. in various capacities involved with watershed science and investigations. He’s worked in academia, environmental consulting firms, as well as state government. For the last 18 years he’s worked with the Vermont DEC Watershed Management Division in the Monitoring, Assessment and Planning Program where he is responsible for TMDL coordination and water quality assessment.