Farallon Consulting has acquired Grette Associates, an environmental consulting firm with offices in Gig Harbor and Wenatchee, Washington.

Grette Associates provides natural resources support for construction, permitting and planning projects throughout the Pacific Northwest.

Founded in 2002, Grette Associates has worked on federal, state and local issues on projects ranging from major public port developments and sediment remediation actions to aquatic permitting for individual landowners. Grette Associates specializes in aquatic and shoreline permitting, wetlands and critical areas, habitat mitigation and restoration, construction monitoring and permit compliance and habitat surveys.

“As an employee-owned company, Farallon Consulting places a strong emphasis on preserving our culture and providing employees with a stake in the company’s success,” Glenn Grette, founder and principal scientist of Grette Associates, stated in a press release.

The acquisition ensures that Grette Associates becomes part of an employee-owned firm, Grette stated.

“Farallon is excited to welcome Grette Associates to our team. Both firms’ commitments to client service, the absence of service overlap and the potential for mutual growth were the main factors in this acquisition,” Amy Essig, CEO of Farallon Consulting, stated in the release.

The move reflects Farallon’s goal to continue enhancing its service offerings and expanding its geographic reach, Essig stated.

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When the U.S. State Department in 2015 issued a travel warning about the dangers of visiting Honduras, the small village of Guadalupe Carney stood to be hurt more than most. Members of Engineers Without Borders‘ University of Portland chapter, which was working on a project to help the village address monsoon flooding issues and increase access to safe drinking water, would not be able to visit.

That was when Engineers Without Borders’ Portland-metro professionals chapter stepped up.

“Students can’t travel to countries with travel warnings,” said Theo Malone, a mentor and a member of a team of professionals preparing to travel to Guadalupe Carney next month. “So they reached out to the professional chapter to see if we could take this project over from them.”

The village of approximately 1,000 people on the Caribbean coast annually is hit by monsoon rains that trigger floods that wash out road crossings and damage water systems. The group of professional engineers from Portland first visited Guadalupe Carney in 2015.

“Our initial assessment was to re-establish connection,” said Malone, who works as a fish screening and passage engineer for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. “We looked at what (University of Portland students) had done. We talked to the community (about) what they wanted done.”

In May, the group will return to perform a more thorough assessment. The most pressing issues are improved access to clean water and infrastructure to prevent floods from washing out road crossings. Since 2000, when floods have forced villagers onto more highly traveled highways, more than 20 have died.

“They are extremely impoverished,” said engineer Kyle Wolf, the project team’s leader. “There is not government looking out for these guys. They are on their own.”

The monsoon rains also damage pipes that provide water from the reservoir in the hills above the village, knocking out supply for weeks. Even at its best, the water system serves only about one-quarter of the population.

The project is being paid for through donations to Engineers Without Borders and a 5 percent match from the locals. In Guadalupe Carney, the group will face challenges seldom seen by engineers in the U.S. Just deciding which materials to use can be a challenge.

“In terms of engineering, we learn how to deal with certain constraints like availability and affordability of materials,” said Margaret Oscilia, who serves as the group’s program leader. “Here, if you ask for crushed rock or three-quarter minus (gravel), we get it. There, it is harder to get what we need for our designs.”

“In the U.S., (if) you want a 40-inch culvert, you pick it up and it is cut to the right size and it’s ready to go,” added Wolf, who is an engineer for Geotechnical Resources Inc. (GRI). “There, you have to find the materials, then have them shipped in. You have to figure out how to do it.”

Then there is the education aspect. The local officials must be taught how to maintain the system the group leaves behind.

“During the construction process, we are on the ground walking through with community members on what we are doing and why, and simplifying it as much as possible,” said Quinn Behnke, who handles the educational part of the project. “We have to provide training and actual documentation for what was built and its operation in Spanish.”

The team also must be prepared for security issues associated with flying into San Pedro Sula – Honduras’ second-largest city and one of the most dangerous in the world outside of war zones. On average, San Pedro Sula suffers three homicides each day; it also is a major hub for extortion and drug trafficking.

“My mom didn’t want me to go,” Oscilia said. “It did concern me initially.”

The group next month will arrive in San Pedro Sula, but then leave for Guadalupe Carney as quickly as possible.

“We get out right away,” said Oscilia, who is an engineer with Farallon Consulting. “We land and then take our transport for a six-hour drive to Guadalupe Carney.”

The reward for team members is being able to live with village residents temporarily and get a taste of their culture.

“It’s a chance to … see things you never get to otherwise,” Oscilia said.

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