TRB Webinar: Wetland Mitigation at Airports

The ongoing loss of wetlands and other water resources poses a great concern. As such, federal, state, and local jurisdictions have enacted regulations to avoid or minimize these impacts and compensate for unavoidable losses. TRB hosted a webinar on Thursday, November 5, 2020 from 2:00 to 3:30 PM Eastern that discussed water resources on and near airports. These locations provide a particular challenge as they can potentially attract hazardous wildlife such as waterfowl and shorebirds, which pose hazards to aircraft operations. Successful wetland mitigation is often complex, time-consuming, and expensive. This webinar provided clear and concise guidelines for airport staff, regulators, and consultants to address wetland mitigation at airports. Presenters discussed the regulatory environment of wetland mitigation and present a process flowchart. They also examined considerations for planning, engineering, design, and funding.

The webinar features research from ACRP Research Report 198: Wetland Mitigation--A Guidebook for Airports.

The slides are available.

Webinar agenda and presenters:

1. Overview and purpose of the guidebook, definitions, and regulatory environment: Laura Morland, Mead and Hunt
2. Wetland mitigation and challenges at airports: Laura Morland, Mead and Hunt
3. Mitigation process flow chart: Walt Esser, Environmental Resources Solutions
4. Considerations for planning, engineering, design, and funding: Walt Esser, Environmental Resources Solutions
5. Question and answer session: Janet Kieler, Denver International Airport

The first 60 minutes of the webinar will be for presentations and the final 30 minutes will be reserved for audience questions.

Learning Objectives

At the end of this webinar, you will able to:

1. Identify challenges of having wetlands near airports
2. Describe the considerations and constraints of wetland mitigation on and near airports
3. Discuss the process involved in wetland impacts at airports

Continuing Education Units for Accredited Airport Executives

The American Association of Airport Executives (AAAE) will provide 1 Continuing Education Unit (CEU) to accredited airport executives who attend this webinar. Claim CEUs by visiting www.aaae.org/ceu. For questions about AAAE continuing education units, please contact accreditation@aaae.org.

Registration is available until just before the webinar starts. Once the webinar starts, you will be unable to submit your registration. Individuals who are registered for a webinar but do not receive their confirmation emails due to their organization’s internal firewalls should contact the TRB Helpdesk for assistance in signing in.

Registration questions? Contact Reggie Gillum.