F. X. Browne, Inc. Staff Provide Community Service

F. X. Browne, Inc. staff have been busy lately presenting papers, providing training, and doing volunteer work.

Dr. Frank Browne, P.E., company President, has been assisting PA DEP in training engineers in the use of the new Stormwater Best Management Practices Manual, which was designed to minimize the adverse impacts of stormwater on groundwater and surface water resources (Dr. Browne also helped draft the manual.). He recently participated in a three-day DEP-sponsored workshop to train PA DEP and Conservation District staff in the use of the manual.

F. X. Browne, Inc.'s Megan LeBoon presented a paper on Stormwater Management at the World Environmental & Water Resources Congress in Tampa, FL. Megan was also recently appointed to the American Society of Civil Engineer's Stormwater Infrastructure Committee.

Tiffany Barnes, F. X. Browne, Inc. laboratory manager, volunteered to provide free stream surveying services for Pocono Creek, Brodhead Creek and Slateford Creek for PA DEP's Watershed Snapshot 2007, an Earth Day Survey of Pennsylvania's water bodies and watersheds. The work involved conducting stream assessments including water quality, stream order and type, visual assessments and characteristics, riparian zone survey, land use survey, and macro-invertebrate survey, and reporting the results to DEP.

Rebecca Buerkett, F. X. Browne, Inc. project scientist, volunteered to conduct a stream ecology workshop at the Adirondack Park Visitor's Interpretive Center in Paul Smiths, NY, as part of their Saturdays Are For Kids program. The children watched an interactive presentation on stream ecology and then trooped down to the stream to catch and analyze macroinvertebrates.