The Sacramento District of the American Society for Civil Engineers gave their prestigious “Outstanding Engineering Project Award” to the recently constructed Bear River Levee Setback. The project involved setting back a mile of levee at the confluence of the Bear and Feather Rivers to improve levee stability and restore the floodplain (formerly cultivated for orchards) back to natural habitat. The restored setback area will support endangered species including Chinook salmon, Swainson’s Hawk and Valley Elderberry Longhorn Beetle. Levee setbacks are increasingly being looked at as a ‘win - win’ approach to strengthening California’s aging flood control levees while restoring natural floodplain area, 90% of which has been lost in the last 100 years.

PWA studied the geomorphic conditions of the site to ensure that the restoration had a sound physical basis that would support the ecological goals. One particular challenge was the legacy of 19th century gold mining in the Bear River watershed, which had buried much of the channel and floodplain under hydraulic mining sediment, creating low points that would strand fish during floods. We developed a sophisticated 2D sediment transport model to look at erosion and deposition patterns on the newly restored floodplain and along the levees. We also applied recent CALFED research carried out by PWA’s Betty Andrews and UC Davis’s Professor Peter Moyle on fish utilization of floodplains (known as the Floodplain Activation Flow, or FAF, concept). This research provided a way of evaluating which parts of the restored floodplain would most effectively build up the food chains needed to feed salmon, which use flooded areas to fatten up before migrating out to sea. Based on a study of FAF conditions we designed a special fish swale to make sure that feeding Chinook salmon were not stranded on the floodplain when waters recede after spring floods.

The project team was led by Bookman Edmonston and included PWA, MBK Engineers and EDAW. The team is currently designing a much larger scale setback for six miles of levee along the Feather River upstream from the Bear project. PWA’s project team included Betty Andrews, Andy Collison, Chris Campbell and John Stofleth.

Download a PDF of the ASCE Sac. Division 2007 Awards list

Sediments are flowing at the Hamilton Wetlands Restoration Project! Once an Army airfield built over 900 acres of subsided Baylands, the US Army Corps of Engineers and the California Coastal Conservancy are restoring this area back to sustainable mosaic of habitat for coastal wildlife. With sediments being a precious resource in San Francisco Bay the Hamilton Project is making good use of clean material from the Port of Oakland Deepening Project; sediment once destined for the deep ocean disposal. PWA is proud to have been involved in this milestone beneficial-use and wetlands restoration project from the early days of feasibility analysis through to recent detailed final design.


Excerpt from Marin Independent Journal article by Mark Prado
Published: January 19, 2008

PWA founder Philip Williams talks to Bay Area scientists about how rising sea levels and levee failures could have profound consequences for both Bay and Delta ecosystems, as reported by the San Francisco Bay Guardian. Until recently, politicians and the public tended to view the problems facing the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta levees as separate from the problems facing the San Francisco Bay. But now that human-made distinction is beginning to blur as scientists predict that rising sea levels and levee failures could have profound consequences for both ecosystems.


Excerpt from SF Bay Guardian article by Sarah Phelan
Published: November 7, 2007

Bay Nature, the prestigious award-winning magazine that dazzles the eye, included a Web Extra article which gave PWA's Andy Collison a chance to explain some complex computer models of the river channel and its flood plain. PWA is pleased that this high-profile project on the Napa River for the Rutherford Dust Restoration Team is included in Bay Nature's coverage of the river, the watershed and the valley. "(The) Napa River Restoration Project is a study in landowner responsibility. In 2002, faced with an impaired river and watershed in their backyard, the Rutherford Dust Society (RDS) voted unanimously to initiate a plan to manage and restore the four-mile reach of the Napa River through the appellation. Rather than wait for government funding, RDS created the RDRT subcommittee and looked to the region's landowners to fund the initial phase of the project." (from the RDRT site)


Excerpt from the Bay Nature Web Extra "Looking Ahead on the Napa River" by Dan Rademacher
Published: January, 2007

PWA celebrated the historic breaching of the restored Petaluma Marsh with the Marin Audubon Society and the Bay Area press was there to cover the historic event! All the local television news programs aired a piece in their evening broadcasts and it was the lead article of the Chronicle Bay Area section. The Chronicle photograph and the television coverage featured PWA's Ann Borgonovo and long-time client and partner MAS's Barbara Salzman.


Phil Williams made his traditional canoe leap through the breach which was caught on tape by all the local stations for a dramatic finish to the coverage. Also powering the canoe was PWA's head of Field Operations, Eric Donaldson.

Excerpt from San Francisco Chronicle article by Glen Martin
Published: December 9, 2006

A panel of international experts on coastal geomorphology and resource management, that included PWA founder Phil Williams, has made a unanimous recommendation to reconfigure the Mississippi Delta to replenish Louisiana’s disappearing coastal marshes. This was reported in a New York Times article, and other media outlets.


Excerpt from New York Times article by Cornelia Dean
Published: September 19, 2006

On September 21 at the Corinthian Club in Tiburon, The Bay Institute presented its Carla Bard Bay Education Award to Phil Williams at their annual event, Celebrating Headwaters 2 Ocean (H2O).
The Bay Institute created the Bay Education Award in 1992 to honor those who have significantly increased the public's understanding of and concern for the San Francisco Bay-Delta Estuary. The late Carla Bard, the former Chair of the State Water Resources Control Board and member of The Bay Institute Board of Directors, embodies the essence of this award. Bard, a champion of clean water, wetlands preservation and wild rivers, was considered a statewide leader on water issues. In 1998, The Bay Institute named the Bay Education Award in her name.

Past recipients of the Bay Education Award include: Glen Martin, 1992; Marc Reisner, 1993; Peter Moyle, Ph.D., 1994; Harold Gilliam, 1995; Harrison C."Hap" Dunning, 1996; Contra Costa Newspapers, Inc., 1997; Dave Weiman, 1998; Allen Garcia and Paul Martin, 1999; Nancy C. Swadesh, 2000; William T. Davoren, 2001; Jean Auer, 2002; John Hart and David Sanger, 2003; and Sallyanne Wilson, 2004.

Philip Williams & Associates has been selected to lead the Ballona Wetland Restoration project in Southern California. Under contract to the Coastal Conservancy, PWA will also work with the Department of Fish and Game and the State Lands Commission to define alternatives, conduct a feasibility analysis and develop a conceptual restoration plan for the enhancement of 600-acres of the Ballona Wetlands in Los Angeles County. The plan will enhance wetland resources, preserve open space and create managed public access compatible with the natural resources of the site.

The Ballona Creek watershed is largely urbanized and home to more than 1.5 million people. Urbanization of the watershed has significantly impacted the hydrology and water quality of Ballona Creek and the Ballona Wetlands. Located at the mouth of Ballona Creek, the wetlands continue to provide habitat for some threatened and endangered species. Enhancement of this property is one of the largest and best remaining opportunities to restore coastal wetland habitat in southern California. Restoration planning will be conducted within the landscape and watershed context, with attention paid to adjacent and ecologically related resources.

The project goals are:

• Restoration and enhancement of salt water influenced wetland habitats to benefit Endangered and Threatened species, migratory shorebirds, waterfowl, seabirds, and coastal fish and aquatic species. Restoration of seasonal ponds, riparian and freshwater wetlands, and upland habitats will be considered where beneficial to another project goal or biological and habitat diversity.
• To provide for wildlife-oriented public access and recreation opportunities compatible with the habitats, fish and wildlife conservation.
• To identify and implement a cost-effective, ecologically beneficial, and sustainable (low maintenance) habitat restoration alternative.

PWA will lead a team of biologists, restoration ecologists, geotechnical and traffic engineers, and cultural resource specialists. The team will also collaborate with the Ballona Wetlands Restoration Working Group (BWRWG), a stakeholder group comprised of interested parties, agencies and members of the public and the Science Advisory Committee, an interdisciplinary panel of experts formed by the Coastal Conservancy.