Event Calendar

Sunday, June 30, 2030

On Demand: Power Lines & Wildfires: Mitigate Enterprise Risks & Reduce Legal Exposure

Start Date: 7/2/2025 8:00 AM PDT
End Date: 6/30/2030 5:00 PM PDT


Organization Name: Washington Defense Trial Lawyers

Contact:
Maggie Sweeney
Email: maggie@wdtl.org
Phone: (206) 749-0319

Sponsor: Exponent

Credit Card Payments Only

WDTL Members: $30

Non Members: $60

1 WSBA CLE credit

You are purchasing an on demand video.  
Following registration, you will receive an email with a link to the video and instructions for obtaining CLE Credit.  You are responsible for submitting your CLE credit.

Description:

Presented by Katie Palmquist, Ph.D.
 
Human activity has altered not only wildfire intensity and fire-return interval, but also baseline forest structure, causing habitat fragmentation, proliferation of exotic species, and a lack of landscape diversity. Wildfires, even large-scale conflagrations, present an opportunity to reclaim natural forest structure and diversity. However, current public perception of native forest structure is biased by over a century of management decisions and the persistent impression that wildfire is ecologically destructive, rather than a natural part of the ecosystem. Addressing both will be important in shaping ecologically-focused approaches to wildfire prevention and recovery in forestlands.

Dr. Palmquist has a strong interdisciplinary background in environmental toxicology, biology, and ecology. She has expertise in ecological risk assessment and natural resource damage assessment (NRDA) at large complex sites in multiple states and is experienced in assessing the risks of various chemicals (e.g., PAHs, metals, hydrophobic insecticides, and PCBs) to plants, birds, fish, and invertebrates.

As part of this work, Dr. Palmquist has used innovative approaches to define baseline conditions and quantify reductions in ecological services while also assessing the relative importance of other stressors as causal factors. Dr. Palmquist has significant work experience with power company clients, including assessment of potential injury to ecological resources and threatened and endangered species following wildland fires. She has also published on the effects of wildfires on stream ecosystems and watershed functions. In addition, Dr. Palmquist has also conducted ecological assessments of proposed submarine power cables at a number of offshore wind farm sites, with particular focus on possible effects of EMF exposure to resident fish and large invertebrate species in complex marine habitats.

Dr. Palmquist also has work experience in the field of pesticide toxicity and risk to non-target organisms. She has conducted pesticide registration work in both the United States and in the European Union and has authored several papers on the susceptibility of non-target invertebrates to insecticides. In addition, Dr. Palmquist has been retained on cases involving the contamination of food and other consumer products by various pest species. As part of this work, she has conducted inspections of products, reviewed the efficacy of pest control procedures, and constructed infestation timelines.

Online Registration

Registration Opens
7/2/2025 8:00 AM

Registration Closes
6/30/2030 5:00 PM

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