Who We Are

Mr. Dearing has participated in some of the most significant legal actions to have shaped federal wetland policy. He served nine years as a lead trial attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice representing the Corps of Engineers, Environmental Protection Agency, and Coast Guard. He is currently in private practice. DearingLawFirm.com

Mr. Newling is a Certified Wetland Biologist (CWB) and Professional Wetland Scientist (PWS) with over 45 years of experience in wetland delineation, restoration, monitoring, and mitigation banking. He participated in writing the 1987 United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Wetlands Delineation Manual and served for 8 years as the national technical coordinator for USACE wetland training. He has testified frequently as an expert witness on these issues.
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Mr. Anderson is a certified Professional Wetland Scientist, working in natural resource management since 1990. He was a wetland specialist at the Washington State Department of Ecology for eleven years, teaching wetland delineation, hydric soils and determining the OHWM and currently teaches Wetland Law and Policy at the University of Washington.

Mr. Collinson has over 30 years experience with wetland regulation; 26 of those in the Corps of Engineers Headquarters Regulatory Branch where he had primary responsibility for development of regulations, policy guidance, and the nationwide permit program. Since retiring, he has worked as a consultant on regulatory and wetland issues.

Mr. Fischbeck leads the Restoration Practice at HELIX Environmental Planning and has 24 years of experience with the restoration of native California habitats. He is a Certified Ecological Restoration Practitioner (CERP), a restoration biologist by training, and the Responsible Managing Officer for HELIX’s C-27 Landscape Contractor’s and A General Engineering licenses.
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Mr. Knapp is a professional botanist and ecologist specializing in rare, threatened, and endangered species, taxonomy and morphology. He is an expert on Sedges (Cyperaceae) and Rushes (Juncaceae) and has authored keys for various Floras. He works as Chief Botanist at NatureServe and serves as a regional reviewer for the Flora of North America Project.
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Ms. Page has more than 20 years experience in ecological analysis and permitting. Currently, she works with the Public Works Department and is responsible for authoring permit applications and submittals and performing consultation that relate to NEPA, SEPA, Army Corps, Department of Ecology, WDFW, USFWS, NMFS, SHPO, THPO and local County and City permits.
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Mr. Scoles is principal of Terra Science, Inc. He specializes in wetland delineation, hydric soil evaluation, wetland hydrology assessment, permitting, mitigation, and problematic wetland situations. He has extensive experience working with hydric soils and wetland hydrology.
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A nationally recognized hydrogeologist with over 30 years experience specializing in wetland hydrology, Dr. Straw has consulted for both private industry and government agencies, including the Wetlands Research Team at the Army Engineer Waterways Experiment Station. He also taught in and directed the Geology Department at Western Michigan University.

Mr. Stringer is a Principal Biologist with 20 years experience in the public and private sector. As an environmental consultant, he has worked on and managed hundreds of projects conducting wetland delineations, botanical surveys, and developing restoration plans for wetlands, oak woodlands, and riparian habitats.

Mr. Sward has worked as a biologist in southern California for more than 30 years. He is a Certified Ecological Restoration Practitioner and was the senior technical specialist at HELIX Environmental Planning where he oversaw field investigations, restoration projects, wetland delineations, vegetation mapping and rare plant studies.
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Mr. Tomsovic is a Restoration Ecologist and Senior Project Manager with 20 years of professional experience in the environmental consulting industry. He has successfully designed, implemented, and managed hundreds of restoration projects. His project experience ranges across all habitat types. Mr. Tomsovic formerly served as Board President of the California Society for Ecological Restoration (SERCAL).

Dr. Thomasson is curator emeritus of the herbarium at the Sternberg Museum of Natural History in Hays, KS, and has taught plant identification courses for WTI since 2011. He has taught university courses in agrostology, dendrology and plant taxonomy for more than 30 years, and has conducted plant surveys for many government agencies and private companies.

Ms. Whited retired in 2019 following a 35+ year career in public service implementing local, state and federal wetland regulatory programs, conducting delineations and functional analyses, and writing and reviewing permit applications. In her last role as Senior Ecologist for 10 years for the USACE Regulatory Program at the St. Paul District, including work in the New England District and Regulatory Headquarters in Washington, D.C., she helped develop policy and provided training in wetland delineation and regulatory policies to both the public and private sector.