Wilson, Walker

Dr. Tim Carruthers is the Director of Coastal Ecology at the Water Institute of the Gulf. He has a strong international reputation from more than 20 years working in coastal ecology, focusing on human impacts and management. His work has focused on assessing and leveraging ecosystem conditions to enhance adaptation to coastal change. He brings specific experience in developing ecosystem health indicators and solving problems by focusing on systems analysis. Before joining The Water Institute of the Gulf, Dr. Carruthers worked for the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme, as the Coastal and Marine Advisor, based in Samoa, providing marine management support to 21 Pacific Island countries and territories. A large component of this work was developing and implementing approaches for preservation or restoration of natural ecosystems to increase resilience of vulnerable coastal communities. Dr. Carruthers has developed approaches to ecosystem condition assessment, and global syntheses of seagrass trends and processes. Synthesizing knowledge for communication to broad audiences, including coastal citizens, policy-makers and scientific colleagues, has been an ongoing focus throughout his career. Currently, Dr. Carruthers is leading the Coastal Ecology Program in projects supporting integration of physical and ecosystem models, assessing and quantifying ecosystem function of submerged and emergent coastal habitats, and linking ecosystem functions to community needs and uses of ecosystem services.

Mr. Guidry has 25 years of experience as an environmental scientist, 20 years of which he served as a project manager in multi-discipline environmental settings. He is currently the director for the Applied Science and Planning Division at Coastal Environments, Inc., working on project development and also client liaison, field lead on vegetative monitoring projects, and director of all environmental programing. Mr. Guidry has training and expertise in conducting environmental site assessments – Phase I, Endangered Species Assessments, and wetland delineations following US Army Corps of Engineers criteria. He assists business, industry, private clients, and government entities in preparing permit applications and coordinating with regulatory agencies to assist in securing Section 404, 10, and 408 permits for commercial and residential development projects, energy and petroleum transmission line projects, legacy lawsuit ecological assessments, state roadway projects, and government funded wetland assessment projects as well as coastal restoration projects for state and federal agencies.

Bill Sapp focuses on protecting the swamps, tidal creeks, and salt marshes of the Georgia and Alabama coasts and leads SELC’s Georgia Coastal Initiative. He received his law degree from Harvard Law School and his Master of Law degree in Environmental Law from George Washington Law School (with highest honors). Before joining SELC, he served as an assistant regulatory attorney with the Chief Counsel’s office of the Army Corps in DC, clerked for Judge Edenfield in federal district court in Savannah, was an associate at Alston & Bird in Atlanta, and served as the lead wetlands attorney for Region 4 of the Environmental Protection Agency.

Mr. Wilson is a senior wildlife biologist/wetland ecologist with Coastal Environments, Inc., (CEI) in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He has over 21 years of professional experience investigating the ecology of a wide variety of flora and fauna in the southeastern United States with experience in the areas of environmental compliance and biological investigations, primarily wildlife biology, ecology, botany, wetlands, and biological assessments. Additionally, he has been accepted by the court as an expert in the fields of biology, ecology and wetland delineation. Mr. Wilson’s project responsibilities and experience at CEI include remote sensing and image interpretation; jurisdictional wetland delineations and determinations; site assessments; oil spill assessment monitoring; environmental surveys/inspection/monitoring for pipelines; litigation support; wetland and wildlife management plans; habitat mapping; mitigation bank establishment and monitoring; water collection, soil and tissue samples for lab analysis; and surveys for protected species, migratory birds, wading bird rookeries, herpetofauna, mammals, mussels, and vegetation. Mr. Wilson’s projects have ranged from multi-state projects to small, site-specific areas. He has performed field surveys across the southeastern United States and trained and managed biological teams to complete complex jobs. His project experience has given Mr. Wilson insight into research methodology and ecology in the southeast.