Welcome Liz

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elizabeth perry

administrative coordinator

The Horsley Witten Group is excited to announce that Elizabeth Perry (Liz) has joined our Sandwich Operations Team as an Administrative Coordinator. Liz earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Mathematics from Southern New Hampshire University. She has years of experience in bid preparation, estimating, finance, plan review, and sales support.

A lifelong learner, Liz is always looking to improve her skills. She appreciates technology and is happiest when helping others to analyze and improve processes. Liz has worked independently for herself, thrived as a cost estimator and administrative assistant in the commercial construction field, and as a stay-at-home parent.

 

Liz grew up in Swansea and was surrounded by relatives who immigrated from Portugal. Grandparents and parents who made their livelihoods working in textile mills and fishing nearby waters shared important life skills with her like sewing, textile arts, fishing, and map study. In high school she enjoyed field hockey (wishing the school had a girl’s ice hockey team), softball, and the drama club. She appreciates fine art and spending time with her family. She is a hockey fan from a hockey family and when not working she can be found at an ice rink cheering on her three children, of whom two are goalies! Liz also enjoys knitting, embroidery on kid’s t-shirts, and sewing. Welcome to HW Liz, we are so happy that you are here!

 

 

Welcome Casey

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casey proto

staff Scientist

The Horsley Witten Group is happy to announce that Casey Proto has joined our Sandwich Restoration team as a Staff Scientist. Casey recently earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Marine Science, Safety, and Environmental Protection from the Massachusetts Maritime Academy (MMA). During his time at MMA, Casey enjoyed being a peer tutor in the chemistry department and being part of a study on eelgrass health and its abundance in Buzzards Bay. Additionally, Casey had the opportunity to mentor underclassmen students during a tropical ecology field course at the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences.

Casey has completed internships with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and the Association to Preserve Cape Cod (APCC). As a Compliance Intern in the Ship Operations Department at WHOI, Casey worked to ensure the Institution’s vessel operations complied with safety and environmental regulations through reviewing and drafting documents and protocols.  At APCC, Casey collected and analyzed water samples from freshwater ponds to identify and quantify cyanobacteria. His current project portfolio includes a watershed assessment, environmental due diligence assignments, GIS work, and field work related to water sampling and topographic surveying.

Growing up in Centerville, Casey enjoyed the various Cape Cod landscapes and the numerous hiking trails, which grew his appreciation for the local environment. When not working he can be found golfing, reading, or hiking with his Golden Retriever Charlie.

Welcome to HW Casey, we are glad you are here!

 

 

Welcome Orla

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Orla Peck

Landscape DESIGNer

The Horsley Witten Group is proud to announce that Orla Peck has joined our Providence office as a Landscape Designer. Orla recently earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Landscape Architecture (BLA) and a minor in Community Planning from the University of Rhode Island.

Growing up in Bradford, RI Orla attended the Compass Charter School during elementary and middle school years in North Kingstown. This program helped to guide Orla’s growing interest in design and the environment. Wilcox Park in Westerly, RI also became a unique backdrop for learning, recreation, and inspiration. Frequent visits with her father who is park superintendent influenced her career choices. This 15-acre arboretum and Victorian strolling park boasts 159 different trees, 43 unique cultivars, and seven RI Champion trees.

During college she gained experience working as an intern for the Westerly Land Trust, a freelance designer for Opaline Gardening and Landscape Design, and a landscaper and fine gardener for Fleurs. She completed a fellowship at Ocean Hour Farm, where she designed a regenerative permaculture design for the entrance. Orla started a cycling club at URI, was a teaching assistant for Landscape Plants I, and earned a 2025 ASLA Student Honor Award for analysis.

Orla enjoys many outdoor activities like hiking, rock climbing, and biking, but also looks forward to spending time knitting, crocheting, and sewing felt animals. She likes photography and traveling. She recently completed a 350-mile bike packing trip with her brother for 8 days in Ontario, Canada.

Welcome to HW Orla! We are glad you are here.

 

 

Welcome Chelsea

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chelsea yuan

she/her

DESIGN engineer

The Horsley Witten Group is happy to announce that Chelsea Yuan has joined our Sandwich office as a Design Engineer. Chelsea recently earned a Master’s Degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Windsor in Ontario, Canada. She completed a Bachelor’s of Engineering Degree in Civil Engineering from Monash University in Melbourne, Australia.

Chelsea grew up in Shanghai, China and always had a strong interest in math and physics classes. After graduation, she moved to Australia to embark on her college career. Her varied work experience centers around design and construction projects. She enjoys using AutoCAD and working on drainage maps. She has worked as a Survey CAD Drafter, Civil Engineer, and Investment Analyst. Currently, she is working on a stormwater report.

When Chelsea is not working, she enjoys taking photographs, especially of landscapes and cityscapes. While relaxing at home, she enjoys spending time with her cat Cucumber, a Canadian hairless Sphinx, and watching dramas and comedies, especially stand-up comedians. She loves to travel and looks forward to attending local concerts and getting to know New England.

Welcome to HW, Chelsea! We are glad you are here.

 

 

Welcome Laney

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LANEY WYATT

she/her

Staff engineer

The Horsley Witten Group is excited to announce that Laney Wyatt has joined our Boston office as a staff engineer. Laney recently earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Engineering from the University of Massachusetts in Lowell, MA. We are thrilled to welcome her back full-time as last summer she participated in our summer internship program contributing to site and stormwater design and engineering peer reviews.

Growing up in Billerica, MA, Laney knew she wanted to remain local for college and considered engineering seriously as both of her sisters and her brother-in law are engineers! One could say that engineering runs in the family! Laney is the third member of her family to graduate from UMass Lowell.

During college she gained experience with consecutive internships and by participating in the Stream Team project which was a joint program with the Town of Lexington and the UMass Lowell Civil and Environmental Engineering Department. Laney gained hands on experience with fieldwork and enjoyed helping other students. She also relished being a teaching fellow starting in her sophomore year.

Laney has a strong interest in digital art and enjoys online drawing with her friends. She is also learning to sew and has considerable experience in special effects makeup. Laney is getting to know Boston better and looks forward to time off with her dog Finnegan!

Welcome to HW Laney! We are glad you are here.

 

Welcome Sydney

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Sydney stanton, P.e.

they/them

project engineer

The Horsley Witten Group is excited to share that Sydney Stanton, P.E. has joined our growing engineering team in Boston, MA. Sydney earned a Bachelor of Science in Ecological Engineering, with a minor in Irrigation Engineering from Oregon State University. As a busy student, they found time to be an eco-representative at the university and a sustainable agriculture intern with the Corvallis Environmental Center, completing a sustainability initiative featuring work on community gardens. Sydney had the opportunity to further their musical interests (a hobby since 4th grade) while fulfilling the role of captain on the Oregon State University Drum line!

A California native, Sydney grew up in Victorville, Southern California. They thrived in this location enjoying, skiing, hiking in the desert, and trips to the coast. Sydney competed as an alpine skier in high school and was influenced by a 9th grade earth science teacher, who encouraged them to consider environmental engineering.

Sydney has worked as a civil design engineer in Washington, as a project engineer in Massachusetts, and is currently working on a lake stormwater analysis in New Hampshire and fieldwork for the Boston Office of Green Infrastructure.

When Sydney is not working, they enjoy listening to science fiction/fantasy audio books, sewing costumes, running, and hiking with their five-year-old Golden Retriever, Strawberry.

Welcome to HW Sydney! We are glad you are here.

 

 

EPA Contract will Support Programs to Protect Drinking Water Supplies

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Tom Noble Training

hw awarded $10 million EPA contract

hw news release

Emergency preparedness, response and recovery programs to protect public drinking water supplies

Horsley Witten Group, a full-service environmental consulting firm providing sustainable and resilient design solutions, has been awarded a five-year contract valued at up to $10 million from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Under the terms of the agreement, Horsley Witten Group will develop, implement and support programs to protect the nation’s drinking water and wastewater systems from natural disasters, man-made incidents, and the effects of climate change.

Working with the EPA’s Water Infrastructure and Cyber Resilience Division (WICRD), some highlights of Horsley Witten Group support will include developing emergency response training and workshops, conducting risk assessments, developing cyber risk management solutions and identifying contamination mitigation strategies for community drinking water systems.

The contract represents the EPA’s latest engagement with Horsley Witten Group since the tragic events of September 11, 2001, when the agency initiated federally mandated activity to protect the nation’s drinking water supplies against terrorist attacks.

In 2022, the EPA honored Horsley Witten Group with its Small Business Award, recognizing the organization for its exemplary customer support, technical adaptiveness, and responsiveness during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We look forward to continuing our longstanding and productive partnership with the U.S. EPA to help safeguard the nation’s drinking water supplies and wastewater treatment facilities. For more than two decades we have worked closely together to create sustainable solutions to ensure that water and wastewater utilities are resilient from a wide range of natural, man-made, and nefarious threats.”
Thomas Noble, Sr. Project Manager, Principal, Horsley Witten Group

 

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Chicopee’s First Comprehensive Plan

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Chicopee Develops First-Ever Comprehensive Plan:
Envision Our Chicopee: 2040

news release

SANDWICH, Mass., December 4, 2023 – Horsley Witten Group, a full-service environmental consulting firm providing sustainable and resilient design solutions, has partnered with the City of Chicopee to develop its first-ever comprehensive plan. The community-driven plan, called Envision Our Chicopee: 2040, will guide the western Massachusetts city for the next two decades, and includes an actionable blueprint to achieve its community defined long-term vision for future growth and development.

 

Envision Our Chicopee: 2040 plan components include

  • brownfield redevelopment
  • zoning reform
  • land use and development
  • affordable housing
  • open space and recreation
  • historic preservation
  • public health, and transportation

“The beginning of a renaissance for the City of Chicopee, which is often referred to as ‘The Crossroads of New England,’ is underway and will continue for the next 20 years and beyond,” said Jeff Davis, Project Planner at Horsley Witten Group.

–  Jeff Davis, Planner

 

 

“Chicopee has conducted neighborhood-level planning in the past, but the time had come for a broader, comprehensive vision for the future of the city,” said Chicopee Director of Planning & Development Lee M. Pouliot. “Developing Envision Our Chicopee: 2040 was a remarkable opportunity to make the things we love about Chicopee even better and fix the things that need to be fixed over the course of the next 20 years. The plan prioritizes future investments in community services and infrastructure that promote fairness and equity throughout the city.”

Envision Our Chicopee: 2040 addresses several land development and socioeconomic issues affecting the former mill city that was built around distinct neighborhood centers, borders two rivers, and has significant transportation infrastructure including railways and major highway routes.

Developing resiliency solutions for the effects of climate change were included throughout the plan, as were initiatives to maintain a strong sense of diversity, equity and inclusion throughout the city, its facilities and services.

The final comprehensive plan is the culmination of a four-year effort that began in the summer of 2019 and continued throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. During that time, Horsley Witten Group worked with the Chicopee Department of Planning & Development and a Steering Committee established by former Mayor Richard Kosto to solicit feedback and input from city residents and community stakeholders. Due to pandemic restrictions, the typical planning activities and processes had to be adjusted and creative solutions implemented, including online and paper surveys, digital open houses, and use of a “meeting in a box” kit that enabled community members to lead their own small group meetings either in an outdoor setting during the warmer months, virtually or indoors according to state guidelines.

The Chicopee Planning Board unanimously approved the comprehensive plan in late September. “An immediate priority of the plan’s implementation will be a complete rewrite of the city’s zoning code, which hasn’t been substantially updated since 1974,” said Pouliot. “We need to be more creative with mixed-use development, infill development, address minimum parking standards, and consider the future of the exclusive single-family only Residential A District.”

In addition to Chicopee, Horsley Witten Group has participated in the long-term planning processes for more than a dozen New England municipalities, as well as communities in Arkansas, Hawaii, Maryland, and South Carolina. The Horsley Witten approach to comprehensive planning begins with compiling a complete inventory of existing conditions that serve as the foundation for analysis and public education. An engagement process is then initiated to determine and articulate a community’s values and priorities, culminating with an implementation plan that incorporates best practices, science, and innovation.

View the Plan

Comprehensive Planning

 

Lily Pond Park Design Wins Award

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Lily pond park design wins award from ri-asla

HW News Release

Horsley Witten Group, a full-service environmental consulting firm providing sustainable and resilient design solutions, was honored with a regional American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) Merit Award-Planning and Analysis for the Lily Pond Park Master Plan on Nantucket.

ASLA Rhode Island presented the award to Horsley Witten, recognizing its vision for restoring the ecological and recreational function of the park, a 6.5‐acre property located within the residential outskirts of historic downtown Nantucket and owned by the Nantucket Land Bank.

Though the park itself encompasses only 6.5 acres, the plan presents a preferred approach to clean runoff from 90 acres of residential land surrounding the site using green stormwater infrastructure. In recent years, both the health of surrounding wetlands and park usage have been negatively impacted not only by unmanaged stormwater runoff, but also clogged drainage infrastructure, and invasive vegetation. The key design elements include a new looped boardwalk system over the restored wetland for improved accessibility, additional seating areas, park entrance enhancements, and restoration of a shallow marsh system. Constructed wetlands will be used to treat stormwater runoff coming into the park.

In granting the Merit Award, ASLA Rhode Island offered the following praise for the Horsley Witten Group, “The Lily Pond Park Master Plan presents a preferred approach to restore and diversify wetland habitats, treat runoff with green stormwater infrastructure, and enhance the user experience with improved connectivity. Blending of the visitor experience with water quality and habitat enhancement and analyzing the site within its overall watershed makes the Lily Pond Park Plan a unique example of how we should be designing all sites within their larger ecological systems.”

The team completed the plan in August 2021. Since plan adoption, The Nantucket Land Bank secured a 2023 Southeast New England Program (SNEP) Stormwater and Natural Infrastructure Grant to help fund the construction and monitoring of proposed improvements. Due to the success of the Lily Pond Master Plan, the Nantucket Land Bank has also partnered with the town on a Stormwater Feasibility Study for Downtown Nantucket, using a similar planning approach. Advanced design development and permitting for the Lily Pond Improvements are expected to get underway in spring 2024.

“We are honored to receive recognition from ASLA Rhode Island for our work with the Nantucket Land Bank for the restoration of Lily Pond Park,” said Nathan Kelly, President, Horsley Witten Group. “Our talented team of landscape architects, engineers, and wetland biologists are proud to be closely aligned with ASLA’s mission to participate in the careful stewardship, wise planning, and artful design of cultural and natural environments.”

“We are grateful to be partnering with the Horsley Witten Group on the Lily Pond Park project,” said Jesse Belle, Executive Director of the Nantucket Land Bank. “Their master plan has provided us with an incredible opportunity to restore the wetland at this beloved public park, creating a space where both people and nature can interact and thrive. The project furthers the Land Bank’s goals of preserving scenic views, protecting ecological resources, and enhancing recreational experiences in nature for people to enjoy.”

VIEW THE DESIGN SUBMITTAL

 

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HW Partners with Town of Mashpee to Restore Chop Chaque Cranberry Bog

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PRESS RELEASE

SANDWICH, Mass., November 14, 2023 – Horsley Witten Group, a full-service environmental consulting firm providing sustainable and resilient environmental design solutions, has partnered with the Town of Mashpee, the Massachusetts In-Lieu Fee Program, and the Massachusetts Division of Ecological Restoration to restore the former Chop Chaque cranberry bogs to healthy, thriving wetlands similar to what they were prior to conversion to cranberry farming approximately a century ago.

There are two cranberry bogs at Chop Chaque totaling 6.5 acres that are situated on a nearly 12-acre town owned parcel of land adjacent to Santuit Pond. The cranberry bogs have been out of production for approximately four years.

Since cranberry cultivation has become more economically challenging in recent decades for farmers on Cape Cod, many have opted to retire bogs and place the land under conservation easement protection. Municipalities and other conservation entities that acquire the land or the conservation easement for these retired bogs often seek to restore them to something similar to the natural wetlands that existed prior to the conversion to cranberry agriculture and that will better support complex ecosystems and associated habitat. Ancillary benefits, such as improved nutrient management, are also often realized.

 

“It is a major trend and for good reason – restoring cranberry bogs to their natural state benefits the environment, encourages the return of wildlife and rare species habitats and contributes to the health of our waterways,” said Horsley Witten Group Principal Scientist Neal Price. With no restoration, intervention frequently fails to allow for recovery of wetlands systems with wetland functions and values similar to what would have existed prior to the original establishment of cranberry agriculture.”

The Chop Chaque project is being funded through a $525,000 In-Lieu Fee Program allocation from the Massachusetts Department of Fish & Game.  Horsley Witten Group was responsible for assessment of the Chop Chaque site, developing designs for restoration, which will include removal of the excess sand that had been added periodically over the decades of agriculture, filling artificial ditches, roughening bog services, removing a culvert that connects Santuit Pond to the bogs, and permitting of the project. Final design, construction, and post-project monitoring are still to come. Construction work on the Chop Chaque restoration project is expected to begin during the fall of 2024 and be completed in approximately two to three months.

 

“We look forward to once again working with Horsley Witten Group on this important ecological restoration project,” said Mashpee Conservation Agent Andrew McManus. “The organization and its team of talented and accomplished environmental scientists have worked with the Town of Mashpee on a wide range of projects including culvert replacement, dam repair and planning, and permitting processes.”

Horsley Witten Group has also managed or participated in other local cranberry bog restoration projects in Mashpee, Falmouth, Marstons Mills, Plymouth, and Yarmouth.