Water Learning Series: Los Angeles - session five

Welcome to the Water Learning Series: Los Angeles

session five

We welcome Megan Whalen and Hunter Merritt of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Megan Whalen joins the Federal Urban Waters Ambassador Team, representing the Los Angeles Region with over 15 years of experience in water resources planning, collaboration, and stakeholder engagement.

Ms. Whalen started her professional career working on the Los Angeles River Revitalization Master Plan, which was a collaborative effort led by the City of Los Angeles. She became very involved in the Los Angeles River Ecosystem Restoration Feasibility Study, which was a U.S. Army Corps and City of Los Angeles partnership. Her experience as a non-federal partner working with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for the past nine years has propelled her interest in working on large- scale projects with federal, state, and local interests. Additionally, Ms. Whalen has experience in bi-national and international collaboration, project management, and an ability to understand complex issues and work with multiple stakeholders. She has led efforts on the Tijuana River Watershed, working with the International Boundary and Water Commission (IBWC), the Salton Sea with Tribal Partners as well as the Salton Sea Authority, and liaised with her counterparts at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan as well as U.S., NATO, and Afghan Military representatives to build the electrical grid in Afghanistan.

Currently, she is the Continuing Authorities Program (CAP) Manager at the Los Angeles District and serves as a Watershed Program Manager where she can lead efforts and make connections with federal and local interests for mutually beneficial outcomes. Looking forward, Ms. Whalen will strive to incorporate Environmental Justice, Engineering With Nature principles, and Comprehensive Benefits into her planning and project development process.

Mr. Hunter Merritt is a Social Scientist in the Collaboration and Public Participation Center of Expertise (CPCX) of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Institute for Water Resources (IWR). His work includes facilitation, public participation, and conflict resolution for some of the Nation’s toughest water resources challenges. Mr. Merritt began his USACE career in 2009 as a Public Affairs specialist in the USACE Sacramento District, focused on community relations and engagement. In 2011, he moved to the district’s Planning Division, Water Resources Branch, where he improved relationships between agencies, worked toward increased public participation and engagement as well as plan formulation for flood risk management, ecosystem restoration, navigation, and recreation projects.

Through the IWR CPCX, Merritt provides direct support to districts and coordinates the efforts of the Public Involvement Specialist Cadre on all types of initiatives. Most recently, his facilitation skills have helped the agency pivot public involvement to a virtual space, using several available collaborative technologies and techniques to conduct virtual public meetings and charrettes. Merritt has more than 30 years of experience and training in facilitation, mediation, and conflict resolution, and he has helped more than two dozen studies and projects across the nation to actualize the missions of USACE Civil Works Transformation. In addition to the facilitation work through CPCX, Merritt is also an instructor for several classes in USACE (Planning Associates, Regulatory Strong Leaders, and the USACE Learning Center PROSPECT courses) and has 15 years of experience teaching all levels of the Leadership Development Program (LDP). As a graduate of the South Pacific Division’s Regional LDP Level III (2014), Merritt addressed district, region, and enterprise-wide issues of Knowledge Management and Knowledge Transfer. He continues to pursue improvements to KM and KT in USACE.

Merritt is a part-time lecturer in the Department of Recreation, Parks, and Tourism Administration at California State University Sacramento, where he has more than 17 years’ experience teaching undergraduate courses in leadership and group development and a graduate course in recreation policy. He is also currently an Associate Board member of the

American River Natural History Association, which manages the Effie Yeaw Nature Center in Sacramento, California.

Mr. Merritt received a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia and a Master of Science in Recreation Administration from California State University Sacramento. He lives in Sacramento with his wife and two children. For leisure, he enjoys playing music, whitewater boating, skiing and hiking.

The Water Learning Series: Los Angeles is a year long virtual event that will be recorded and published at a later date at TALKING WATER.

In collaboration with Accelerate Resilience L.A.

Event Venue

Online