Woolpert Senior Strategic Consultant David Wegner has been appointed to the National Academies' Committee on Independent Scientific Review of Everglades Restoration Progress (CISREP).
The CISREP was established in response to the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP), a joint effort launched in 2000 as a federal-state partnership under the Water Resources Development Act with the objective to reverse the decline of the Everglades ecosystem in South Florida and restore the region’s quantity, quality, timing, and delivery of water.
Wegner, a scientist based in Tucson, Ariz., also serves on the Water Resources Research Center Advisory Committee for the Water Resources Research Center at the University of Arizona and is a member of the Water Science and Technology Board of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine. Over his 40-year career, Wegner has consulted on multiple national and regional water and environmental studies conducted on behalf of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Civil Works program and has provided scientific and engineering support as a former member of the senior staff for the U.S. House of Representatives.
The CISREP is a diverse team of science and ecology experts from universities across the country and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The committee will provide a biennial independent, peer-reviewed assessment that will detail overall progress made in restoring the Everglades ecosystem, significant accomplishments of the restoration progress thus far, and specific scientific and engineering issues that may impact progress in achieving the natural system restoration goals of the CERP.
“These assessments give the nation the opportunity to take a hard look at what we have learned as a scientific community since 2000 when the CERP was implemented and determine if we are making the necessary progress and using the best science in relation to the current state of climate change,” Wegner said.
Wegner’s appointment to the CISREP continues to support Woolpert's long-term goal of integrating engineering expertise with public policy and attracting the next generation of engineers and scientists.
“These resource challenges facing our planet are moving Woolpert's teams, tools, and solutions to the next level,” Woolpert Vice President Eric Dillinger said. “We are always looking for ways to build and combine our expertise, whether it’s engineering or our geospatial capabilities, to better the world around us. The future commands it.”
