Renee Flanagan—2005 Technical Engineer of the Year
Renee
Flanagan is an assistant to the forest engineer on the Uinta National Forest.
Her leadership skills, enthusiastic attitude, commitment, and dedication
are examples of her value to the Forest Service and are consistently recognized.
In
1991 Renee began working in the Forest Service’s cooperative education
program while attending the University of Wisconsin, Madison. She worked as
a civil engineer trainee for the Targhee National Forest and gained research
and development experience while working at the Forest Products Laboratory
in Madison. In 1992 Renee earned a bachelor's degree in civil engineering.
In
1993 Renee began working at the Uinta National Forest. She received her professional
engineering license in the State of Utah in 1998 and has maintained
it since then.
Renee has received several certificates of merit and outstanding
service awards for:
Personal commitment and exceptional effort in the
FY 2003 Competitive Sourcing Studies (2003)
High-quality professional
analysis, input, and support for the Revised Uinta Forest
Plan (roads and facilities, 2003)
Excellence in leadership for completion of the Uinta
National Forest’s Roads Analysis (2002)
Development and completion
of the Rays Valley Road Realignment EIS (2002)
Outstanding work in
the reconstruction of Diamond Campground (2000)
Outstanding assistance
on the Aspen Grove Parking Lot (1999)
Excellence in providing technical
assistance in the design of the Soldier Creek Work Center Bunkhouse (1999)
Design
and implementation of the American Fork Canyon/Alpine
Loop Fee Demonstration Project (1997)
Outstanding accomplishment of all engineering duties
and responsibilities (1996)
In addition, Renee has received letters of commendation
from the regional forester; one letter for her assistance on Infra and a
second for her facilitation of public meetings dealing with the Forest Service’s
road reform proposal.
Renee has extensive work experience in planning, design,
and construction of roads, bridges, buildings, water and wastewater systems
for transportation, and administration and recreation facilities. She has
served as an interdisciplinary team leader and member on several EISs, EAs,
and planning
documents. Her ability to focus on projects helps motivate those working
with her.
Some of Renee’s accomplishments:
Renee serves as acting forest engineer, which requires her to function
as a full member of the forest’s leadership team, when her supervisor
is on fire assignments.
Since 2001 Renee has been responsible for
managing the forest’s engineering and minerals budget. Through her
efforts, the forest budget and leadership teams understand how construction
funds can be
spent effectively.
In 2002 Renee served as interdisciplinary team
leader on the EIS for the Rays Valley Road Realignment project. A regional
forester’s
decision was required because the road was being constructed within an inventoried
roadless area. The EIS took a year to complete. Watershed resources, aquatic
species, inventoried roadless areas, and health, safety, and transportation
had to be addressed. The EIS was appealed and elevated to the Washington
office for review. The chief’s office upheld the regional forester’s
decision. The $1.8-million road and bridge project has since been designed
and constructed.
Renee completed the design, prepared the contract package, and administered
the contract as the COR. The project had few modifications and was wrapped
up within budget and the contract schedule.
Renee produced two forestwide
roads analysis documents, one for the Uinta National Forest and one for the
Wasatch-Cache National Forest. She was the interdisciplinary team leader
and writer/editor for these documents, which provide factual information
and scientific
data that line officers can use when making project-level decisions.
In
2003 Renee completed a detail as the Intermountain Region’s program
and budget engineer.
After Renee’s August 2004 detail as the
regional transportation and construction engineer, she was commended by Keith
Simila,
the Alaska region director of engineering and aviation management, for her
assistance in completing agreements between the Forest Service, Federal Highway
Administration, State of Alaska, and several cities and boroughs for construction
of a recreation trail system parallel to the National Historic Iditarod Trial
between Stewart and Anchorage, AK.
Renee plays an important role
in the review and final edits of the "Watershed Restoration" self-study
guide and exam for the National Construction Certification Program.
Renee
develops project work plans, engineering reports, and CIP and TRTR submittals
and reports. Recent CIP submittals for fiscal year 2006 have resulted in
a Regional recommendation for the highest priority road (Indian Creek Road
Reconstruction)
and facility (Little Mill Campground Reconstruction) projects. This will
result in an additional $2.6 million to the forest in fiscal years 2006 and
2007.
In addition, she took the initiative to build a program of work including
more than $2 million of deferred maintenance projects using CMII funds.
Under
a compressed timeline, Renee produced the Uinta National
Forest’s Facilities
Master Plan. The plan provides the forest with detailed information for managing
its facilities in the future.
Renee worked with the Utah National
Guard on projects such as construction and reconstruction of roads, buildings,
wastewater
facilities, parking lots and repair of road failures and decommissioning
of roads and trails. Renee was instrumental in the successful outcome of
the Mt.
Nebo Scenic Loop Road enhancement project using funding from TEA 21 ($415,000)
and the reconstruction of the Diamond Fork Campground project ($1.5 million),
which included 61 family camping units and a double-tee concrete bridge nestled
among the habitat of Ute lady’s tresses, a threatened orchid.
Renee
uses GPS total station surveying equipment, Trimble Geomatics Office (TGO)
data
processing, and AutoDesk’s Land Desktop Development for effective design
of bridges, roads, water and wastewater systems, and recreation sites. In
addition, she uses GIS equipment and applications, Infra, and Microsoft Access
to provide
output of information for planning and budgeting purposes.
Renee has been
involved in wildland fire suppression since 1991. She is planning section
chief on the
Great Basin Type 2 Incident Management Team. Renee has served on challenging
assignments within and outside the Great Basin, while keeping her assigned
engineering workload up to date.
A skilled "do-it-yourselfer," Renee
has planned and supervised many construction and remodeling projects during
her free time. Her unfinished basement was finished in 1 year.
Renee manages
to balance her professional career with her personal life. She spends time
camping, hiking, and alpine skiing with her husband, Tim, and their 7-year-old
daughter, Amanda. Renee volunteers in Amanda’s classroom, serves as
assistant coach for her basketball team, and helps with her alpine ski team.
Renee
Flanagan is an assistant to the forest engineer on the Uinta National Forest.
Her leadership skills, enthusiastic attitude, commitment, and dedication
are examples of her value to the Forest Service and are consistently recognized.
E-mail: wo_mtdc_webmaster@fs.fed.us
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