Martin Trso

Consulting Engineering and Environmental Geologist, Geomorphologist, Stormwater, Erosion and Sediment Control Specialist

Location: San Francisco Bay Area
Industry: Environmental Services

Summary

Martin Trso, PG, CPG, CPESC, QSD/P, EURGEOL has over twenty years of professional experience working as a consulting engineering and environmental geologist, and geomorphologist. His work focuses on water quality and habitat protection, soil conservation, property protection, water resources management and flood control, hydromodification mitigation, low-carbon agriculture, fisheries and wildlife conservation and restoration efforts, environmental design, and environmental impact analysis. The scale of his work ranges from watersheds to river reaches and deals with natural, rural, urban, and industrial settings. Martin’s clients include government agencies, civil engineering and environmental science and planning firms, universities, law firms, and private landowners, developers, and companies with environmental planning, design, permitting, and multi-disciplinary challenges.
The professional services he provides are scientific analyses, feasibility studies, project scoping and management, report preparation, and independent (third-party) reviews. Martin works with property owners to plan, design and permit engineered erosion control plans (ECPs); build water wells and agricultural reservoirs; and prepare stormwater pollution prevention plans (SWPPPs). He performs sampling and logging of earth/rock materials in drilled borings, backhoe test pits, and trenches on construction projects.

Mr. Trso’s engineering geologic experience includes investigating geologic and hydrologic hazards and constraints for the planning and design of residential, agricultural, and industrial projects. Mr. Trso’s environmental geologic experience includes landscape (processes, sensitivity, and response), land-use and ecological history assessments, the analysis of terrestrial carbon/greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) and mitigation measures, and the development of water, sediment, and biogenic-carbon budgets.

Experience

Principal/Geologist/Geomorphologist/Stormwater, Erosion and Sediment Control Specialist

Martin Trso, P.G. (dba Balance Geo), a California OSDS certified Small Business
December 2001 – Present (14 years 1 months), Berkeley, California, U.S.A.

Mr. Trso has extensive field experience in sedimentology, geomorphic landforms, soils, hydrogeomorphic surface and sediment source mapping, hydrologic and sediment transport measurements, and surveying rivers, watersheds, and reservoirs. This includes the quantitative evaluation of the potential impacts of natural and land-use disturbance (e.g., timber harvesting, agricultural conversions, vineyards, ranching, roads, reservoirs, and urban residential development) on hillslope runoff and streamflow, hillslope stability and landsliding, soil erosion, sediment delivery to streams and wetlands, sediment transport and storage in stream channels and wetlands, and the resultant changes in stream channel stability, conditions, and functions. Many of these projects involve the development of conceptual designs for civil engineering works (flood detention ponds, constructed mitigation wetlands, bridges, and erosion and sediment control measures), and the preparation of special technical reports for environmental impact reports (EIRs) used to fulfill the requirements under CEQA, or to guide regulatory programs being developed by county and/or state agencies.

Mr. Trso performed Level 1-3 fluvial geomorphic assessments and mapping, and developed watershed-scale sediment source and delivery analyses and sediment budgets, including river-reach. These have been applied to: (1) the development of total maximum daily loads (TMDLs) for sediment in Napa River, Sonoma Creek, and Pescadero-Butano Creek and their tributaries; (2) hydraulic, sediment transport and channel scour analyses and the associated channel and bridge design for 3 bridges across Upper Alamo and Tassajara creeks; and (3) channel, floodplain and fish/aquatic habitat enhancement and restoration efforts on Napa and Trinity rivers, Milliken Creek, and Upper Alamo Creek. On Cal Fire’s hillslope monitoring project, he has evaluated the effectiveness of California’s Forest Practice Rules as related to beneficial water uses.

Geologist/Geomorphologist

Stillwater Ecosystem, Watershed and Riverine Sciences, Inc.
May 1996 – November 2001 (5 years 7 months), Berkeley, California

Worked with staff geologists, biologists, hydraulic engineers, and ecologists, conducted geomorphic research and field investigations and studies in northern California, Oregon, and Utah. As staff technical lead, developed watershed-scale landform-stratification based sediment source analyses and sediment budgets that have been applied to the development of total maximum daily loads (TMDLs) for sediment in rivers in northern California (including South Fork Eel River, Noyo River); HCP/SYP for Jackson Demonstration State Forest; and HCP/SYP for Louisiana-Pacific Corp. holdings (presently Mendocino Redwood Company, LLC).

Performed (1) rapid reach and sub-reach and survey-level field assessments and mapping of valley-floor, floodplain and stream channel conditions, focusing on floodplain and channel geometry surveys, surface and sub-surface substrate conditions typing and mapping, mapping of erosional and depositional processes and features, performing textural sieve analyses of riverine substrate and hillslope colluvium, and instrumented assessments of runoff turbidity, streambed permeability, and substrate mobility (Level 1-2); (2) assessed adjustment processes, sensitivity, and past floodplain and river changes (Level 1-2); (3) inferred natural (‘reference’) conditions (Level 2-3); and (4) developed watershed-scale and river-reach sediment budgets that have been applied to channel, floodplain and fish/aquatic habitat enhancement and restoration efforts–including dam removal on fish-bearing rivers–in rivers in northern California and Oregon (including Merced River, Tuolumne River, Noyo River, Napa River, and Clear Creek in California, and North Umpqua River and Sandy River in Oregon).

Research Assistant-Fluvial Geomorphologist, Geologist

Geology and Geophysics Dept., UC Berkeley; EA Engineering, Science and Technology, Inc.
April 1994 – April 1996 (2 years 1 month), Berkeley/Lafayette, California

As EA staff geologist at Petroleum Environmental Services (4 mo.), updated geological reports, conducted field mapping (including supervising drilling of soil borings, construction of groundwater monitoring wells), and assisted with investigating, monitoring, and remediation of hydrocarbon-impacted groundwater and soils. As EA contracting fluvial geomorphologist (16 mo.), performed Level 1 watershed analyses for industrial forestlands owned by Louisiana-Pacific Corp. (presently Mendocino Redwood Company, LLC) in northern California, in support of the development of a detailed plan for L-P’s adaptive management and monitoring plan, Habitat Conservation Plan, and a 100-Year Sustained Yield Plan.

Performed a Level 2 watershed analysis for the upper Noyo River watershed (also L-P), including testing digital terrain models developed by Prof. William E. Dietrich at UCB. As contracting fluvial geomorphologist (4 mo.), was a consultant for USDA Forest Service (Siskiyou National Forest, OR); assisted UCB research staff with documenting (mapping) of livestock grazing effects in high-elevation meadows (Inyo National Forest, CA), laboratory experiments on fluvial abrasion of river sediments.

Reader, Field Geologist Assistant, Laboratory Assistant, Research Assistant

Geology and Geophysics Dept., University of California, Berkeley
June 1992 – April 1994 (1 year 11 months)

details coming soon