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Anna Birkas

Anna Birkas has a M.S. in Hydrology, a B.S. in Environmental Ecology, and a minor in Spanish. She has been employed at Ridge to River as a watershed Ecologist for 10 years. She recently became a general contractor and started Village Ecosystems.

Headline: Entrepreneur
Work status: Living The Dream
Website: http://VillageEcosystems.com
Industries: Biotech, Cleantech, Education, Lifestyle, Real Estate
Skills: Business, Design, Languages, Leadership, Management, Marketing, Spanish
Next step: Growing Village Ecosystems to neighboring counties, growing the team, establishing strategic partnerships with municipalities, obtaining significant construction contracts
Location: Ukiah, California
Groups: Imagine H2O - Please Register at link below, Imagine H2O 2011, [INACTIVE] Imagine H2O
Interested in: Consulting opportunities, Finding business partners, Finding cofounders, Finding experts, Getting press, Giving back, Growing my group, Helping friends, Meeting new people, Participating in a competition, Professional opportunities, Promoting my startups, Raising money, Receiving feedback, Recruiting for my startup, Sharing my projects, Starting a company, Trading services
Tags: Architecture, bio-swales, california, constructive wetlands, earthworks, ecological design, freshwater, general building contractor, green, greywater, hydrology, low impact development, natural swimming pools, rainwater, stormwater, sustainability, sustainable development, water, water conservation, watershed, xeric landscaping
Schools: California State University System - Humboldt State University, University of Montana System - Missoula

WORK EXPERIENCE

Employer: Village Ecosystems
Position: Ecological Designer/Builder
Time period: December 2008 - Present
Description: Founded Village Ecosystems to offer services in the design and construction of sustainable systems for freshwater and wastewater. Have thus far conducted consultations for rainwater catchment, natural swimming pools, greywater, earthworks, and stormwater.

Employer: Ridge to River
Position: Watershed Ecologist and Vice President
Time period: January 2004 - Present
Description: Conducted hydrologic, ecological, and soil analysis such as water quality monitoring, stream measurements, soil-water interactions, flood analysis, and habitat typing. Designed, coordinated, and implementeds projects, inluding watershed analysis, streambank stabilization, bioengineering, wetland restoration/creation, native revegetation, culverts and fish crossings, and Sanitary Surveys for public drinking water.

Employer: Norman deVall and Associates
Position: Land Use Planner
Time period: October 2006 - May 2008
Description: Prepaired and obtain permits for property use and development. Researched markets for waste desposal and reuse. Employed county, state and federal code in project developemnt.

Employer: Watershed Consulting
Position: Field technician
Time period: March 2004 - August 2004
Description: Conducted ecological restoration, selective forest harvest, prescribed burns.

Employer: University of Montana
Position: Researcher
Time period: May 2003 - August 2004
Description:
Conducted research on the Burned Area Emergency Rehabilitation Project's erosion treatment methods.

Employer: University of Montana
Position: Researcher
Time period: May 2002 - August 2005
Description: Conducted thesis research and analysis on the Spatial Variability of Soil Hydrophobicity after Wildfire.

Employer: Independent Project
Position: Delegation Leader
Time period: October 2004
Description: Led a delegation of watershed professionals to Cuba to research freshwater ecosystems and infrastructure.

Employer: University of Montana
Position: Educator
Time period: August 2004
Description: Taught hydrologic field tools to Forestry.

EDUCATION

University: University of Montana System - Missoula
Time period: 2005
Degree: Hydrology, MSc

University: California State University System - Humboldt State University
Time period: 2002
Degree: Environmental Ecology, BSc

PUBLICATIONS

Articles: Woods S.W., Birkas A. and Ahl R., (in press, 2006).  Spatial Variability of Soil Hydrophobicity after Wildfires in Montana and Colorado. Geomorphology.

Anna's Startups (1)

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  • Village Ecosystems

    Village Ecosystems designs and constructs freshwater and wastewater systems using ecological principles. Offering solutions for greywater, stormwater, rainwater, earthworks, and natural swimming pools, that use less water,.

Anna is Following (15)

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  • Social Networks and Water Provision to the Poor

    This is my doctoral thesis project. Quantitative and qualitative methods are used to collect data on 600 organizations that provide water in Argentina. Social network analysis is used to understand how the structure of the network to which thes...

  • Skipso - The Cleantech Platform

    Skipso is an innovative online platform and vertical business to business marketplace that aggregates Cleantech professionals and businesses globally providing them with a new channel to carry out their business and unleash sustainable innovation.

  • Whole Water Systems

    Whole Water Systems is dedicated to the holistic management of water for maximum efficiency of use. We promote Life Emulating Technologies; optimizing biological processes and patterns in the creation of a coherent and functional built environment.

  • WaveWater

    WaveWater builds cost-effective, localized, scalable desalinization systems powered by wave energy for installation in developing countries, making it profitable to create fresh water where it is critically needed.

Anna's Contacts (2)

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  • Danilo Luzuriaga

    Pre-MBA Business English, B.A. Business

  • Dan Steketee

    Entrepeneur with 13+ years of strategic and tactical consulting experience in the financial services, start-up and technology industries (BPM, Business Intelligence, KPI's,, Vendor Management, etc) .