Event

ASCE COPRI Seattle Chapter Monthly Dinner Meeting - March 22, 2017

Topic:
Louisiana Barrier Islands - Past, Present and ?

Description:
Land loss in southern Louisiana is extreme, resulting from a combination of forces or effects, including: the sinking delta, Federal control of the Mississippi River, sea level rise, and the ongoing erosional forces from the Gulf of Mexico. The Federal government has been providing extensive funding for barrier island and coastal wetland restoration in the State of Louisiana for several decades now, however the effectiveness of these efforts has not been established. It is perhaps worth taking a step back to consider what we have learned about the processes at play, as well as the effectiveness of the efforts to-date. This presentation will provide an overview of the overall geomorphodynamic processes that have led to the current situation on the Mississippi River Delta in southern Louisiana, as well as focusing on a few specific barrier islands using readily available data.

Speaker:
Larry R. Demich, P.E., Ph.D.

Mr. Demichs work has taken him from R&D on deep saltwater intake pipelines in Hawaii to the analysis of barrier island processes on the Mississippi River delta in Louisiana. He has developed computer models and mean recurrence interval wave loading methodologies for floating structures, and designed and overseen the construction of treatment wetlands. He has over thirty years of experience in civil and coastal engineering, ranging from the planning, design and construction of waterfront and in-water facilities, to the analysis of coastal, river and wetland processes.

Mr. Demich has worked extensively with Washington State Ferries, developing the WSF Traffic Queuing Model and the Operational and Architectural Terminal Program. He is currently assisting with the management of the Colman Dock Multimodal Project in Seattle. Mr. Demich has also worked extensively with FEMA in Texas after Hurricane Ike, in Louisiana after Hurricanes Katrina, Gustav and Ike and in New York after Hurricanes Irene and Sandy. For the last three years he has been assisting FEMA, developing the documentation for the State of Louisianas $586 million claim to restore the barrier islands in Louisiana.

Mr. Demich earned his B.S. in civil engineering at Washington State University in 1983. He worked for five years for the Washington State Department of Transportation, the last two years at Washington State Ferries both in construction and as the acting maintenance engineer. Returning to school he earned a Master of Science in Applied Ocean Sciences at UCSD, with a focus on coastal processes. Subsequently he has worked as a consulting engineer in Washington, California, Hawaii, New York and Louisiana. In 1996 he again returned to graduate school, this time at Texas A&M University. His research work and dissertation was in the field of flow in vegetated systems and he was admitted to the Ph.D. in Biological and Agricultural Engineering in 2008.

Location

Mirabella Seattle (View)
116 Fairview Ave N
Seattle, WA 98109
United States

Contact

Owner: ASCE COPRI Seattle

On BPT Since: Sep 14, 2012

Younes Nouri

Attendees

Bill G.

Moffatt & Nichol

Covington, WA United States

Mar 21, 2017 2:23 PM

Tim F.

KPFF

Mountlake Terrace, WA United States

Mar 21, 2017 2:12 PM

Trevor L.

KPFF

Seattle, WA United States

Mar 21, 2017 8:29 AM

Marcus F.

Hoffman Construction

Olympia, WA United States

Mar 20, 2017 4:25 PM

Rian J.

PND Engineers

Anchorage, AK United States

Mar 20, 2017 2:35 PM

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