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Auburn, Calif. – May 20, 2008 – Dudek today announced its registered professional forester Scott Eckardt will lead the firm’s northern California wildfire protection planning and urban forestry services practice. Eckardt is based in the firm’s Auburn office and will help clients with arboricultural, urban forestry, oak woodland management, and fire protection planning consulting services.

“Growing populations in California’s Central Valley, Bay Area and foothills mean these communities are pushing into natural areas. With a nearly year-round fire season, a wildfire can be especially destructive in the wildland-urban interface areas,” said Michael Huff, Dudek’s urban forestry services manager. “We help public agencies, non-profits, and communities effectively reduce fuels to better protect their communities from wildfires in ways that minimize biological impacts and provide an aesthetic landscape.”

With one of California’s largest and most comprehensive wildfire protection planning and urban forestry staffs, Dudek helps cities, FireSafe Councils, and large private land owners assess, design and manage oak woodlands, urban forests and wildland-urban interface (WUI) areas as well as prepare and execute wildfire protection plans. Dudek’s landscape contracting subsidiary, Habitat Restoration Sciences, Inc. (HRS), implements Dudek’s plans and designs through tree removal, restoration planting, and fuel modification and reduction efforts.

Northern California clients include:

El Dorado County Department of Transportation: Providing on-call arboricultural and restoration services.
Monterey County FireSafe Council: Preparing a Community Wildfire Protection Plan.
Santa Clara County FireSafe Council: Prepared two Community Wildfire Protection Plans.

Eckardt manages numerous projects addressing environmental and resource management issues in open space and WUI areas. He is a Registered Professional Forester and an International Society of Arboriculture Certified Arborist as well as a member of the California Licensed Foresters Association, Society of American Foresters, and International Society of Arboriculture.

About Dudek
Dudek is a California-focused engineering and environmental consulting corporation that creatively solves regulatory challenges for municipal agencies and major land owners. The firm helps clients plan, design, construct and manage successful infrastructure and environmental projects that balance regulatory mandates and technical requirements within financial and scheduling goals. Founded in 1980, Dudek is headquartered in Encinitas in San Diego County with offices in Orange, Riverside, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara and Placer counties. For more information, visit www.dudek.com or e-mail info@dudek.com.

Contact:
Christine Clinton
Dudek
760.479.4275
cclinton@dudek.com