Virginia Mahacek
Senior Geomorphologist
Overview
Virginia Mahacek is a fluvial geomorphologist with an extensive background in education and outreach, restoration planning and design, environmental compliance, and natural resource management. She has over 27 years of experience as a technical analyst and project manager of watershed assessments, stream studies, restoration planning, design development, baseline and performance monitoring, alternatives analysis, compliance, and construction oversight. Ms. Mahacek is accomplished in environmental compliance pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA) regulations, and Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) licensing. She has served a variety of local, state, tribal, non-governmental and federal lead agencies and on projects of varied spatial scale, technical complexity and regulatory context.
Virginia effectively communicates technical and planning issues with varied agencies and public stakeholders and facilitates planning progress within challenging community and regulatory settings. Her expertise includes natural and human disturbance-responses, climate change, wildfire hazard and risk reduction, and beaver management. She has worked across the western United States, with a focus on Lake Tahoe, the Sierra Nevada, and the Columbia River Basin.
Projects
County of Sonoma, Fire Recovery & Resiliency Planning, Sonoma County, California
Lake Tahoe TMDL Phase 2 Technical Studies, Lake Tahoe Basin, California-Nevada
Sierra-Cascade Foothill Region Conservation Plan, Sierra Nevada Range, California
Deer Creek Hills Watershed Assessment, Sloughhouse, California
Incline, Third, and Rosewood Creeks Watershed Assessment, Incline Village, Nevada
Watershed Management Plans – Alameda, San Antonio, and Pilarcitos Creeks, California
Arroyo de la Laguna Geomorphic Assessment and Alternatives, Pleasanton, California
New Melones Lake Resource Management Plan, Stanislaus River, California
Upper Laguna Creek Watershed Plan, Elk Grove, California
Markleeville Creek Floodplain Restoration, Alpine County, California
Bird Track Springs River and Floodplain Restoration Project, La Grande, Oregon
Klein Floodplain Activation Project, Similkameen and Okanogan Rivers, Oroville, Washington
Conservancy Island Side Channel Activation, Okanogan, Washington
Salmon Creek Restoration Plan Phase I, Okanogan, Washington
Ecommunity Place Locatee Lands, Floodplain Wetland Reengagement, Penticton, British Columbia
Middle Reach Rosewood Creek SEZ Restoration, Washoe County, Nevada
Cold Creek Restoration and Fish Passage, South Lake Tahoe, California
San Clemente Dam Seismic Retrofit and Sediment Management, Carmel River, California
Merced River Restoration in Yosemite Valley, Mariposa County, California
Tahoe Pines Campground Restoration, Meyers, California
Meeks Meadow Restoration Project, Meeks Bay, El Dorado County, California
Upper Truckee River Reach 5 Restoration Final Design, South Lake Tahoe, California
Diamond Fork Conceptual Stream Restoration Plan, Diamond Fork River, Utah
Conceptual Stream Restoration Plan and Interim Monitoring, Sixth Water Creek, Utah
Application of Enhanced Stream Corridor Modeling Tools for Adaptive Management of Tahoe Basin Streams, Lake Tahoe Basin, California-Nevada
Heavenly Mountain Resort Monitoring Project, South Lake Tahoe, California/Stateline, Nevada
Virginia/Rocky Stream Bank Stabilization Project, Gardnerville, Nevada
Village at Squaw Valley Specific Plan EIR, Placer County, California
General Plan Updates, Counties of Merced, San Joaquin, and San Benito, California
Sawmill Lake Specific Plan Copperopolis, County, California
Plymouth Pipeline Project, Amador County, California
Upper Truckee River Marsh Restoration, South Lake Tahoe, California
Upper Truckee Marsh, Lower West Side Wetland Restoration, South Lake Tahoe, California
Van Sickle Bi-State Park, Stateline, Nevada/South Lake Tahoe, California
Education
M.A. Physical Geography, University of California, Davis, 1983
B.A., Physical Geography, with Honors, University of California, Davis 1979
A.A. Liberal Arts, with Highest Honors, Santa Rosa Junior College, Santa Rosa 1977
