Randy Presleigh will be presenting our 2019 ACEC National Award Winning project, Swan Lake Reservoir Expansion, during:

Session 1I the Water Management & Movement track
On Wednesday, July 24th from 8:30 am – 10:00 am

The Swan Lake Hydroelectric Project is a 25-megawatt (MW) facility owned by Southeast Alaska Power Agency with a 174-foot-tall by 430-foot-long thin-shell-arch dam, a 2,217-foot-long power tunnel, and a two-unit powerhouse. Constructed in 1984 the dam has a 105-foot-wide ungated ogee spillway 14 feet below the dam crest elevation. The reservoir raise was completed in 2016 and achieved by constructing a 23-foot-wide vertical operating gate, a 30-foot-tall concrete pier, and a 78-foot-long flashboard gate system across the ogee spillway. The Dam Raise project presented challenges given the uniqueness of the flashboard system and because of the facility’s remote location approximately 22 miles northeast of Ketchikan, Alaska. Save the date to learn more about the unique flashboard system.

The Presenter: Randy Presleigh has more than 15 years of experience and is a registered Structural Engineer with McMillen Jacobs Associates. He holds a master’s degree in Civil Engineering from University of California, Davis. His experience in structural engineering spans over twelve states and encompasses a variety of complex water resources, heavy civil, commercial, and industrial projects. Randy resides in Boise, ID with his wife and two daughters.

Vincent will be presenting our innovative fish passage solutions from our Box Canyon Dam Upstream Fish Passage Project during:

Session Number: 2G4 the Water and Environmental track
On Wednesday, July 24, 2019: 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM
Rooms: B117/118/119

Box Canyon Dam (BCD), owned and operated by Public Utility District No. 1 of Pend Oreille County, is an aging facility which recently went through relicensing with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). The project includes a 217-foot-long (66 m), 35-foot-diameter (10.5 m) diversion tunnel; a 1,170-foot-long (357 m) forebay channel that parallels the river; a powerhouse containing four generating units with a total production of 90-megawatts (MW); a spillway; and an auxiliary spillway. BCD is located 34.4 river miles (55 km) from the Pend Oreille River’s confluence with the Columbia River in the northeast corner of the State of Washington. BCD was licensed and built by the District and began to generate power in 1955. In 1952, FERC issued an original license to the District to construct and operate the Box Canyon Hydroelectric Project, for a term expiring January 31, 2002. As part of the relicensing, FERC mandated that the District build and operate an upstream fish passage at BCD. The project presented challenges given the uniqueness of the site. This paper offers an overview of the effort involved throughout the design and construction process from obtaining biological information for the target fish (Bull Trout), to siting the entrances of the fish ladder using computational fluid dynamics, to the selection of the type of upstream fish passage system, to the design schedule, and finally construction challenges.

The Presenter: Vincent Autier, P.Eng., PE, has a background in Civil Engineering, with over 16 years of experience in water resources, fish passage (upstream and downstream), hatchery and trapping facilities. Mr. Autier specializes in civil work structures and complex structural steel items (gates, bulkheads, stoplogs and prototype equipment) and is experienced in drainage design, and water distribution. Vincent resides in Boise, ID with his wife and two daughters. When he isn’t with them or solving fish passage issues, he is trail running through the Boise foothills.

Catrin Bryan, Director of Dam Safety, will be a panelist for Session 4A: Lessons Learned … Not!

Room: B115-116 Session Number:4A
On Thursday, July 25, 2019: 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM

About the Panel Discussion:

Why do we keep forgetting the lessons of the past? From Teton Dam to the Oroville spillways, these events were not unprecedented, and disaster could have been averted if we had just learned the lessons from previous dam safety incidents. How do we avoid the “normalization of deviation,” as discussed by the Oroville independent forensic team? This panel will tackle these topics and discuss ways the dam safety industry can avoid amnesia going forward.

Catrin Bryan, PE, P.Eng, is a senior project manager, leads our Water Resources Canadian Operations was recently promoted to Director of Dam Safety for our Water Resources Group. Her project work includes dam safety monitoring, installation and reporting, Dam Safety Reviews or Part12Ds, and Federal dam safety reporting documents and facilitating Potential Failure Modes Analysis. Catrin is also a FERC Part 12D Independent Consultant (IC). She was one of the first female engineers to earn this distinction, and among the list of 387 active IC’s in the US and Canada, she is one of only seven approved female engineers.

Catrin has chaired the 2017 Canadian Dam Association (CDA) Conference, has written dam monitoring and inspection guidance, and acts as a Chief Dam Safety Engineer (CDSE) for several utilities providing dam safety expertise and training for operations staff. She also was a contributing Task Committee member to revise guidelines for the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Monitoring Dam Performance Instrumentation and Measurements publication, released in 2018. She is currently the CDA Vice President for the 2018-2019 year and is the Western Canadian Director for the Northwest Hydroelectric Association board for the 2019-2020 year.

Outside of work, Catrin enjoys skiing, reading, piano, and trying to learn French.  She is the mother of two successful kids who when on break for holidays join her and her fiancé Ash for new adventures.