May 9, 2023
Faces of the Diversion: Katey Levihn
There’s much more to the FM Area Diversion project than moving dirt and pouring concrete. Environmental mitigation plays an essential role in ensuring the river system remains healthy for generations to come. Katey Levihn, an environmental manager with Jacobs Engineering Group, shares how her international experience in civil engineering prepared her to track, monitor, and establish the native prairie plants, wetlands, and resilient habitats that will thrive alongside the new infrastructure.
Transcript: Faces of the Diversion — Katey Levihn
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Katey Levihn: [00:00:15] I work for Jacobs Engineering Group, which is the PMC, the project management consultant for the Diversion Authority, and I am the environmental manager.
[00:00:24] I was born and raised overseas with a father that was a civil engineer who loved the life. So I got into civil engineering and have been lucky enough in my career to be involved in all different kinds of infrastructure projects. I got into the environmental position because I’ve had experience in Superfund sites, a high clay technology transfer from the Ukraine, and developing a number of environmental documents such as environmental assessments, categorical exclusions, and environmental impact statements. I came to Fargo because I finished my last job in Saudi Arabia.
[00:01:12] One of the interesting things is the vegetation management plan here. We have five designated zones plus a vegetation-free zone, and they have different seed mixes. The seed mixes are determined by the soil and hydrological conditions that one would anticipate being there, including where the wetlands are. All of the plans, we have to review them that they’re getting the right seed mix in the right place, and we will monitor as the whole area is seeded to make sure that it is established.
[00:01:54] The seed mixes are based on North Dakota native prairie plants and have been carefully blended to also encourage pollinators and other flora and fauna to occur within the area as well as this helps stabilize the soils. In the diversion channel, we have a very significant vegetation management plan that tackles the requirements for seeding and reseeding and for restoring any disturbed wetlands.
[00:02:29] This project is a really fantastic example of building in resilience. Resilience is the ability to adapt to change, and for this project it’s especially the ability to recover quickly from a very disruptive change, which is what a flood is. The entire project physically is resilient because it’s going to help the whole Fargo-Moorhead area recover much quicker in years of a flood.
[00:02:59] What I would most look forward to as an environmental win would be excellent establishment of all the vegetation for the wetlands. So this will be a nice swath of land throughout the entire area that could provide natural prairie-type habitat for all the flora and fauna.