Wetland Delineation Workshop

Kara Brooks is the Wetland Delineation Coordinator – Bureau of Watershed Management at the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR). She has 10 years of experience in documenting wetlands including delineating tens of thousands of wetlands across the Midwest. She has experience reviewing wetland delineations for controversial and complex wetland sites as a state regulator in Wisconsin and has administered the WDNR Assured Delineator Pilot Program since 2019.

Jeff Deniger is an Area Resource Soil Scientist with USDA-NRCS, Richland Center, WI. He has worked as a Soil Scientist with the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) for 36 years. His job duties have changed through the years, he was a soil mapper on county soil surveys for 8 years, worked in MLRA (Major Land Resource Area) offices for 20 years updating older soil surveys, supervised a MLRA office for a few years, and the rest as an Area Resource Soil Scientist. Working as an Area Resource Soil Scientist has been the most diverse where he deals with soils related questions/ investigations/ training for 12 counties in SW Wisconsin. Jeff also completes Certified Wetland determinations for USDA Farm Program participants, averaging ~100 a year, and handles other wetland related issues.

Marissa Merriman is a Regulatory Ecologist for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District Regulatory Division, with over 13 years of experience in the federal government and private sector. In her current role she evaluates wetland and stream compensatory mitigation proposals in Minnesota and Wisconsin. She also provides technical support and training for Regulatory program staff and the public regarding mitigation, wetland and waterbody delineation, and Clean Water Act jurisdictional determinations. Marissa holds a B.S. in Forest Management and Ecosystem Restoration from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, and certifications in Wetland Science and Ecological Restoration from the University of Wisconsin and the University of Minnesota.

Meredith Thomsen is the Dean of Graduate & Extended Learning, a member of the River Studies Center, and a former Biology Professor at UW-La Crosse. A wetland ecologist specializing in floodplain forest restoration, she lacks experience with wetland delineation, but suspects she is the midwest expert in digging through reed canary grass to find silver maple seedlings. She will be working with the instructors to design and facilitate the online portion of the course, and assisting with field logistics in La Crosse.

Kevin Traastad is the USDA-NRCS Major Land Resource Area Soil Survey Office Leader for the Driftless and Central Sands areas, based in Onalaska, WI. He has a Bachelor of Science-Agriculture degree in Soil Science from UW-River Falls. He has been working in the field for 22 years. From 2005–2009 he conducted wetland identifications and delineations in southeastern Wisconsin.

Allison Willman is a wetland expert for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. Her current role specializes in providing wetland technical expertise to the DNR’s waterways program, wetland delineation reviews and trainings, and botanical trainings. Previously, she served as a Wetland Identification Specialist for the DNR and participated in a research study on wetland restorations. Prior to the Wisconsin DNR, she graduated with a Soils and Land Management degree from UW-Stevens Point and spent several years working in the private sector, along with completing a wetland internship with the Lake County Stormwater Management Commission.

Jeremy Ziegler is an Area Resource Soil Scientist with the USDA-NRCS in Juneau, WI.  He has worked as a Soil Scientist with the NRCS for 18 years in Wyoming, Minnesota and Wisconsin. Jeremy works on wetland determinations for the NRCS and helps teach hydric soils classes in the state for the NRCS.