Firms & Projects: MWH

MWH is a global environmental engineering and construction services company founded in the U.S. in 1945. They have offices in Boise, Idaho and Salt Lake City, Utah, but don?EUR??,,????'???t underestimate their reach; they are a global leader with more than $1 billion in revenue employing 6,500 specialists working out of over 130 offices in at least 30 countries. They provide knowledge-driven services, premiere solutions to municipalities, government agencies, multinational companies, industrial concerns and military organizations worldwide.

What sets them apart

The firm is well known for developing and applying advanced technology to projects. They lead the industry in several areas, from proprietary software and process automation to three-dimensional CAD and enterprise solutions. Their sustainable development approach reflects a balanced view of a project from start to finish?EUR??,,????'??+particularly in the areas of energy efficiency, resource planning and regulatory compliance.

Project: Weber Basin Water Conservancy

Weber Basin

MWH prepared landscape and irrigation designs and specifications for the Weber Basin, a water storage reservoir situated in a residential neighborhood, for the Weber Basin Water Conservancy District.

Challenges: Considerable concern by residents over the visual impacts to the upscale neighborhood.

Features: The design incorporated over 1,000 feet of terraced, block retaining wall. The 3-level terraced planting plan incorporated flowering trees and shrubs with conifers and evergreen shrubs to add year-round color and visual screening. A perennial garden and dry stream were designed for the top of the covered water storage reservoir. Drip irrigation was designed to irrigate the terraced landscaping and the perennial garden. Design and Construction Completed 2002-2004

Project: Utah Division of Wildlife Resources

Wildlife Resources

MWH designed the landscaping, irrigation, and visitors area for the Fountain Green Fish Hatchery in Fountain Green, Utah. The visitor?EUR??,,????'???s area includes a meandering walkway from the parking area to the hatchery viewing deck. Pavers were designed into the walkway and viewing area to define visitor areas. Wheelchair access is provided to all visitor facilities. Outdoor site furniture was selected for the visitor?EUR??,,????'???s area to blend with the hatchery building architecture. Slope plantings and erosion control blanket were incorporated into the landscape design to prevent erosion on steep slopes. Native plant materials including sagebrush and rabbitbrush were used around the perimeter to blend with the surrounding landscape character. Design & Construction Completed 2000-2002.

Project: Bear Valley Creek Stream Restoration and Wetland Creation

Bear Valley - Before

MWH was selected by the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes, Fort Hall, Idaho, to conduct a stream restoration, fish habitat and wetland enhancement project in the Bear Valley Creek area of central Idaho. Bear Valley was dredge-mined during the 1950s for strategic minerals and after the mining ceased, Bear Valley Creek established a new alignment along the tailing piles, cutting down into erosive soils resulting in severe bank instability and recruitment of more than 500,000 cubic yards of excess sediment into the Middle Fork of the Salmon River, a Wild and Scenic River. The stream also had captured several dredge ponds and was close to cutting into many other dredge ponds when MWH started working on the project in 1984.

Objectives: Control of excess erosion and sedimentation, stabilization of stream banks, maintenance of good water quality, improvement of aesthetics and enhancement of endangered Chinook salmon and steelhead trout spawning and rearing habitat.

Services: MWH designed and constructed stabilization measures over a five-year period, which involved excavation of a hydraulically stable floodplain around the existing stream channel for removal of the sediment source and intensive landscaping and revegetation using willows, grasses, sedges and other herbaceous plants. Throughout the implementation, MWH was responsible for detailed design, development of plans and specifications, detailed cost estimating, permitting, construction management, resident inspection, materials acquisition, construction, revegetation and environmental monitoring studies.

Expertise: This project builds on MWH?EUR??,,????'???s great reputation as an expert in the field of channel and streambank restoration. On the Bear Valley project, MWH designed and constructed stabilization measures over a five-year period, which involved excavation of a hydraulically stable floodplain around the existing stream channel for removal of the sediment source and intensive landscaping and revegetation using willows, grasses, sedges and other herbaceous plants.

Scope: The floodplain construction involved excavation and disposal of 280,000 cubic yards of earth, development and placement of 28,500 cubic yards of rock riprap along the edges of the floodplain, stabilizing and revegetating 34 acres of constructed riparian floodplain and streambanks, and planting more than 14,000 rooted willow cuttings. The creation and enhancement of emergent marsh wetlands in the dredge tailings along Bear Valley Creek involved study, design, permitting, and construction of 80 acres of sedge/willow wetlands. An additional 40 acres of potential wetland area were constructed and are being allowed to mature under the existing hydrologic conditions. The marshes created and enhanced have been developed in areas previously used for slime storage from the dredge- mining project. Wetland plants now growing in the area include numerous species of sedges and rushes, bulrushes, willows, and other obligate and facultative wetland plants.

Bragging Rights: The Bear Valley project has exceeded all of it?EUR??,,????'???s objectives, resulting in control of sediment, stabilized stream banks and enhanced fish habitat. It also compliments the aesthetic value of an exceptionally scenic and environmentally sensitive area. Channel-forming flows since the construction have helped the stream increase its sinuosity by building new channels into the constructed floodplain.

Bear Valley - After

Principals: Christine Whittaker works out of the Boise, Idaho office. She has been with MWH for 20 years and is the principal landscape architect for the western U.S. Whitaker has extensive project experience in use of native plants, water conservation principals, stream restoration, wetland creation a habitat enhancement, visual analysis and visual mitigation. Paul Hunter also works out of the Boise office and is the principal designer responsible for CAD drawings and irrigation design.

Employees: Boise, Idaho office: 22 employees, Salt Lake City Office: 80 employees

Specialty: Environmental services. MWH conducts major projects with a multidisciplinary team approach and provides landscape architecture services to support large-scale projects such as water treatment plants, storage reservoirs. wastewater treatment plants, fish hatcheries, river restoration, habitat restoration and wetland creation.

Primary Design Software: AutoCad 2004, Microstation V8