USACE Senior Environmental Scientist, Dr. Todd Bridges was the keynote presenter for the recent “Engineers Australia” speaker tour.
Invited for his impressive credentials as the Army’s Senior Research Scientist for Environmental Science and leader of the Corps’ Dredging Operations Environmental Research (DOER) program and the Engineering with Nature (EWN) program, ERDC-EL’s Dr. Todd Bridges experienced a whirlwind week from September 7-11 that was sponsored by Engineers Australia (EA).
“ It was a busy week in Australia. I spoke at four three-hour events in the cities of Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth, and Sydney. We discussed the beneficial uses of dredged material, contaminated sediment management, optimizing maintenance dredging, land versus sea placement of dredged material, real time monitoring of dredging, dredging policies and the use of dredging to enhance ecosystem services and coastal resilience ,” said Bridges .
Bridges shared his expertise, drawing from ERDC’s experience and capability related to work ongoing in DOER, EWN and the recently completed study by ERDC and the Institute for Water Resources on Natural and Nature-Based Features for the North Atlantic Coast Comprehensive Study.
With his presentation titled “ Sustainable Dredging and Sediment Management: Assessing and Managing Environmental Effects and Benefits “, Bridges addressed technical and public perceptions in Australia concerning the impacts and benefits of dredging and coastal development.
Additionally, he appeared on September 10 as the keynote speaker at PIANC (the World Association for Waterborne Transport Infrastructure) Australia’s technical forum in Sydney, where he addressed “ US Ports: Challenges and Opportunities “.