Thanks to the recent Regional Capacity Building Initiative (RCBI) grant awarded by the Chesapeake Bay Trust and Chesapeake Bay Funders Network, Envision is able to bring on added capacity to expand some of our initiatives. We’ve recently added a part-time Technical Assistance Circuit Rider position to assist our local governments with potential restoration projects and to help acquire funding for projects identified within the 3 disenfranchised communities we’re currently engaged with. We’ve also brought on a part-time Assistant Partnership Coordinator to help with overall network coordination. Read on to learn more about the individuals helping to support Envision’s work!
New Technical Assistance Circuit Rider
The Center for Watershed Protection was recently hired to provide Technical Assistance throughout the Choptank watershed. The Center for Watershed Protection is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization whose mission is to advance clean water resources and healthy ecosystems through responsible land and water management. Their point of contact for the Technical Assistance Circuit Rider program is Amanda Pollack, P.E. We’d like to welcome Amanda to the Envision team!
Amanda is a Water Resources Engineer at the Center for Watershed Protection and has over 26 years of engineering experience. Prior to joining the Center, she was in consulting engineering for 16 years and municipal engineering at the City of Salisbury, Maryland for 10 years. At the City of Salisbury, Amanda was the Director of the Infrastructure and Development Department and the City Engineer. As the City Engineer, she oversaw the Planning, Engineering, Surveying, CAD, Stormwater Management, Construction Inspection and Building Permitting divisions of the City. She managed the City’s MS4 Stormwater program and implemented the City’s Stormwater Utility. Amanda loves to talk about how the stormwater utility was essential for helping Salisbury to meet the MS4 permit requirements and the numerous lessons learned from the challenging implementation process. She is excited to share her experiences working for a local municipality with the jurisdictions in the Choptank watershed.
Amanda has experience in water/wastewater/stormwater design, green infrastructure design and maintenance, project management, grant writing and administration, and construction administration. The project that she is the most proud of is the Salisbury WWTP ENR Upgrade. Amanda was responsible for being the City’s project manager throughout both design and construction, as well as administering the over $60 Million in grants and loans that were necessary to upgrade the plant. The project was challenging due to the tight time frame for completion and keeping the existing WWTP in operation during construction while some tanks were being repurposed for different uses. The new WWTP is a state of the art facility that will serve the community for decades and greatly improve the quality of the effluent discharge into the Wicomico River.
Amanda holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering from Lehigh University and is a licensed Professional Engineer in Maryland. She is currently the Chair of the Wicomico County Board of Education School Building Commission. Amanda and her husband live in Fruitland and are soon to be empty-nesters when their son starts college this fall. Outside of work, Amanda loves to travel and plan new adventures. She also enjoys puzzles, sewing and crafts.
New Assistant Partnership Coordinator
We'd like to welcome Emily Thorpe as the new Assistant Partnership Coordinator. Working with JBO Conservation, Emily will add capacity for overall coordination of Envision the Choptank! Emily recently completed her Master’s in Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation at Virginia Tech, where she researched the influence of sociopolitical context on environmental education program outcomes.
Prior to graduate school, Emily spent nearly 5 years with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s Education Department in Pennsylvania. She started out leading canoe-based programs all over the Susquehanna watershed, helping to connect students, teachers, and residents with their local rivers and streams. After about 2 years, Emily traded in her canoe paddle for the opportunity to manage the Pennsylvania Student Leadership Program, an environmental education and advocacy program for high-school-aged students. In this role, she focused on increasing student engagement in environmental issues by providing opportunities to expand their knowledge of watershed issues, hone their planning and leadership skills, and advocate and take action to improve water quality in their local communities. She also developed new partnerships that linked environmental education to agricultural conservation and community development, but the project she’s still most proud of was working with students to pass legislation designating the eastern hellbender as the official state amphibian.
Emily is an alum of the Chesapeake Conservation Corps and completed her undergraduate degrees in Environmental Studies and Biology at Salisbury University, where she recently taught a month-long kayak-based course on the ecology, culture, history, and politics of Delmarva. She is excited to be returning to the Eastern Shore and is looking forward to building collaborations that protect lands, restore waterways, and create healthy and sustainable communities. Outside of work, you can find Emily out hiking, paddling, biking, gardening, or cruising around the Bay with her partner, Doug and their black lab, Bel Air.