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Spencer Johnson, USCG Licensed Vessel Captain

Spencer Johnson, USCG Licensed Vessel Captain
Project Scientist

Spencer Johnson, USCG Licensed Vessel Captain

Project Scientist

Mr. Spencer Johnson has 33 years of experience as an environmental scientist performing work for both private and governmental sectors. As field crew leader, he supervises field projects and is responsible for assuring successful completion. For the past 20 years, Mr. Johnson has been the primary field lead in aquatic sediment sampling operations and is proficient with field operations requirements involving sampling of water quality, sediment quality, soft and hard bottom fish and invertebrate populations, and physical oceanography. He is also experienced in nonpoint source discharge monitoring programs and dredge material investigation studies. Mr. Johnson is also the primary skipper f...

Mr. Spencer Johnson has 33 years of experience as an environmental scientist performing work for both private and governmental sectors. As field crew leader, he supervises field projects and is responsible for assuring successful completion. For the past 20 years, Mr. Johnson has been the primary field lead in aquatic sediment sampling operations and is proficient with field operations requirements involving sampling of water quality, sediment quality, soft and hard bottom fish and invertebrate populations, and physical oceanography. He is also experienced in nonpoint source discharge monitoring programs and dredge material investigation studies. Mr. Johnson is also the primary skipper for the research vessels PROPHESY and D.W. HOOD.

Mr. Johnson has assisted with and headed up field operations for numerous dredge sediment-sampling projects in California ports and harbors, including port-wide maintenance, channel deepening, and Southwest Slip Terminal development projects at the Port of Los Angeles. He was one of the primary field leaders for the Bolsa Chica Wetlands Restoration sediment coring and ecological risk assessment and the large San Francisco Airport sediment studies associated with proposed runway expansions into San Francisco Bay. Other dredge material evaluation sampling projects that he led or participated in include numerous maintenance-dredging projects for the San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Sacramento U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Districts; the California Department of Water Resources; and other smaller maintenance-dredging and capital improvements projects. He has extensive experience with vibracore sediment coring technology and has completed tens of thousands of cores over his career throughout Alaska, California, Texas, Louisiana, and Minnesota.

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Dredged Material Management

Dredge Sediment Studies, USACE San Francisco, California Managed dredge sediment sampling and testing across various Northern California bays and harbors, including Humboldt Bay, Noyo Harbor, Redwood City, Oyster Point, San Leandro, Oakland Inner and Outer Harbor, Richmond Inner and Outer Harbor, Petaluma Approach Channels and River, Napa River, Montezuma Slough, Suisun Bay, and Crescent City Harbor, overseeing crew and equipment safety. Also assisted with preparing reports and interpretative analyses to support dredging designs and permitting, ensuring compliance and safe disposal.
Maintenance and Deepening Dredging of Sacramento and Stockton Deep Water Ship Channels, USACE Sacramento, California Managed sediment sampling for dredging projects in the Sacramento and Stockton Deepwater Ship Channels, ensuring safe operations and accurate data. Developed special methods for vibracore sampling, ensuring efficient and precise cores despite fast current conditions, managing field crew and equipment safety. Often, these projects have been fast-tracked to meet dredging window constraints despite other funding or design delays. The deepening project required 134 vibracore samples over a river reach of approximately 35 miles for chemical and toxicity testing to permit subsequent dredging. Using operationally precise GPS navigation and real-time water depth data in this tidal and river outflow regime was necessary to obtain cores in the desired locations, and to the correct sediment elevations for these dredge projects.
Dredge Sediment Characterization in Federal Channels in Ports and Harbors, USACE Los Angeles, Los Angeles District, California Served as field supervisor and vessel captain for USACE Los Angeles’ dredge sediment characterization, managing sediment sampling in the Los Angeles District. This included leading all sediment sampling projects in most of Southern California’s ports and harbors from Morro Bay to San Diego multiple times, as most of these ports and harbors are on a 3- to 5-year dredging cycle.
Channel Deepening and Southwest Container Terminal Development, Port of Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California Managed sediment and water sampling operations as field crew leader and captain of the D.W. Hood. This included hundreds of vibracore samples as well as offshore sediment sampling for reference material in water as deep as 1,500 ft.
Consolidated Slip and Dominguez Channel Estuary Sediment Superfund Site, Port of Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California Managed sediment sampling and characterization at a Superfund site, overseeing crew and equipment safety. Ensured safe operations, addressing potential bioaccumulative contamination and environmental impacts.
Port of Los Angeles/USACE Outer Harbor Deepening and Pier 400 and Channel Deepening Program, San Pedro, California Managed sediment sampling and characterization of dredge material, overseeing field crews and equipment safety. Ensured safe operations and compliance with health and safety protocols, addressing potential bioaccumulative contamination and environmental impacts.
Minor Slough and Prospect Island Redevelopment as a Wetland, California Department of Water Resources, Sacramento River Delta, California Served as field supervisor for sampling marsh and channel sediments and levee soils for physical and chemical characterization for habitat restoration planning design purposes.
Port of Los Angeles, Berths 121–131 Redevelopment Project, San Pedro, California Served as the field supervisor for the sediment characterization study for this terminal development to accommodate larger vessels. This project utilized vibracoring for seaward sediment collection and rotary drilling for landside soil collection.
Naval Weapons Station Seal Beach Construction of Ammunition Pier and Turning Basin Project (PD224 and PD226), Seal Beach, California Served as lead field supervisor for this project involving the removal of more than 1.3 million cubic yards of sediments and soils and evaluated the reuse or disposal of the material for a variety of options including construction fill, beach nourishment, eelgrass habitat creation, upland dunes habitat creation, and placement at the LA2 and LA3 Ocean Dredge Material Disposal Sites.
California Department of Water Resources Feasibility Study for Dredging the Clifton Court Forebay to the California Aqueduct to Reduce the Pre-screen Loss of Salmonids, Byron, California Served as lead field leader for an investigation to determine the physical, chemical, and toxicological properties of approximately 1 million cubic yards of sediments within the Clifton Court Forebay. Several dredging alternatives and scenarios were evaluated for their effects on reducing prescreen loss of salmonids.

Soil Moisture Instrumentation

Soil Moisture, California State Parks, San Joaquin County, California Served as the primary field lead in the installation and maintenance of a network of telemetered soil moisture sensors and a weather station at the Carnegie State Vehicular Recreation Area. Data from this network assists California State Parks in forcing closures to the park to avoid environmental damage of muddied trails.

Water Quality Monitoring

Central Coast Long-Term Environmental Assessment Network, City of Watsonville and Applied Marine Sciences, Monterey Bay Regional Monitoring Program, Watsonville, California Served as initial field crew leader deploying and retrieving moorings for water quality monitoring instruments to extract ultra-low concentrations of persistent organic constituents.

Oceanography

Southwest Ocean Outfall, San Francisco, California Participated in the design, construction, installation, and operation of two state-of-the-art telemetered oceanographic moorings. Each mooring transmitted real-time acoustic Doppler current profiler data and multiple conductivity, temperature, and depth sensor data through inductive cabling. Responsibilities included troubleshooting, instrument maintenance, and deployment and retrieval.
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