Matt Schweisberg is the Principal of Wetland Strategies and Solutions, LLC (WSS), where he provides insightful and judicious policy, regulatory and technical advice and assistance for clients seeking to navigate a wide range of regulatory and non-regulatory issues related to wetlands and other aquatic resources.
Matt Schweisberg is a retired federal wetlands ecologist and wildlife biologist with over four decades of experience in the Clean Water Act Section 404 (dredge and fill), related water programs, NEPA reviews, and ecological impact assessment. He spent nearly 33 years with the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency at its Headquarters office in Washington, D.C. and New England Region office in Boston, Massachusetts. Prior to retiring from federal service, he served concurrently as Chief of the New England Region’s Wetlands Protection Program, as Senior Mediator with the Region’s Alternative Dispute Resolution Program, and as the Agency’s representative on the International Joint Commission’s International St. Croix River Watershed Board.
He also served as the Region’s Wetlands Enforcement Coordinator for 11 years, Senior Wetlands Ecologist for 26 years, and as a Special Assistant to the Deputy Regional Administrator for one year. While with the Agency’s Headquarters office, Matt managed nationally controversial cases for the EPA National Wetlands Program. He also worked in the Superfund Program and on aquatic resource issues for hazardous waste site remediation. Matt is a certified Professional Wetland Scientist under the Professional Certification Program of the Society of Wetland Scientists. He is HAZWOPER certified and holds a Department of Homeland Security Transportation Worker Identification Card (TWIC). Matt has been a member of the New England Hydric Soils Technical Committee for over 25 years.
As a nationally recognized expert in the federal Clean Water Act’s Section 404 Program, especially jurisdictional and compensatory mitigation issues, Matt served on national EPA work groups developing federal guidance and regulations on Clean Water Act jurisdiction, and agriculture and enforcement issues. He convened and supervised teams to prepare expert testimony for litigation for federal court cases. He also testified before federal grand juries and served several times as an expert witness on wetland regulatory and technical matters in civil litigation at both federal and state levels for cases involving residential development, agricultural conversions, oil and gas exploration and production, and Superfund remedies.
He provided technical and scientific advice and guidance to other EPA Regions on regulatory actions and controversial projects in other parts of the country. While with EPA Headquarters, he provided oversight for controversial cases, including section 404(c) veto actions.
Matt is highly skilled and has extensive experience with wetland and other aquatic resource issues for major projects involving transportation, energy, agriculture, commercial and port development, residential development, recreation, and Superfund cleanup. Among others, he managed or served as the technical expert for projects involving:
– Transportation, such as major highway extensions and large rail line extensions;
– Energy, such as wind turbine fields, oil and natural gas exploration and production (including hydraulic fracturing), ground-mounted solar panel siting, and electric and natural gas transmission lines;
– Agriculture, such as row crops, turf farms and cranberry bog conversions;
– Port development;
– Surface mining, such as gold, copper, iron;
– Shopping mall and industrial park developments;
– Residential subdivisions; – Surface mining;
– Recreation, such as golf courses and ski area expansion; and,
– Superfund remedies.
For six years, he co-instructed a week-long intensive course in wetland identification and delineation at the Eagle Hill Institute in Steuben, Maine. Matt has taught courses in wetland regulation; restoration and creation; wetland and wildlife ecology; and wetland identification and delineation for EPA, the Army Corps of Engineers, the New England states, Northeastern University, the New England Wildflower Society, and many other organizations. He has made presentations and served on panel discussions at numerous conferences and symposia.
During his federal service, Matt received 7 EPA Bronze Medals, 11 EPA Superior Achievement Awards, 2 U.S. Department of Justice Certificates of Commendation, and 2 Army Corps of Engineers Commendations.
Matt has a solid working knowledge of the National Environmental Policy Act; Rivers and Harbors Act; Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act; Endangered Species Act; Magnuson-Stevens Essential Fish Habitat requirements; USDA Food Security Act-Swampbuster program; Federal Energy Regulatory Commission-Dam/Hydropower licensing program; Marine Protection, Research, and Sanctuaries Act; Water Quality Standards program; National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System program (including storm water); and several state wetlands and water quality protection programs.
Further, Matt is well versed in all aspects of alternative dispute resolution. For more than 15 years, he mediated large public policy and environmental disputes for federal and state agencies, NGOs, and others.
Matt serves on the Board of Directors for the Society of Wetland Scientists; as Chair of the Ethics Committee for the Society of Wetland Scientists Professional Certification Program; and as an ex-officio member of the Board of Directors for the National Association of Wetland Managers. For six years, he also served on the Board of Directors for the Massachusetts Association of Conservation Commissions, as well as on a Massachusetts town conservation commission for several years.
Matt received his degree in Wildlife Management from the University of Maine.