Paige Leitman

I am a marine biologist and risk assessor. The short story of what I do for a living is that I draw the line between “clean” and “dirty” to help industrial clients know when, where, and how much to clean up contaminated sediment, water, and soil. My goal is to help my clients clean up "enough" but not "too much" and to try to reach mutually acceptable compromises between industrial clients, regulatory agencies, and community stakeholders about how much is "enough." My work is focused on using physical, chemical, and biological models to estimate risk to wildlife. Though my academic training is in marine science, through the last 20-plus of work experience, I have a strong familiarity with freshwater and terrestrial systems. I have enjoyed working in marine ecological risk assessment throughout the US and several other countries. In addition to risk assessment, I have supported various projects, from permitting, to hazardous site cleanup, to natural resources damage assessment, including support for the Deepwater Horizon disaster. Analytical methods are my strength. I am familiar with moving from abiotic data to completed risk assessment analysis. I am skilled at data reduction, statistical analysis, and presentation using a variety of platforms. Additionally, I use sediment AVS/SEM analysis, PCB homolog analysis, equilibrium partitioning for organics (hydrocarbons, pesticides, other organics), PAH TU assessment, PCB and dioxin/furan TEF/TEQ assessment, and surface water hardness to help realistically assess the bioavailability of constituents in the sediment and water matrix. I have built numerous food web models for birds and mammals (robins, shrews, mice, deer, foxes, great blue herons, green herons, kingfishers, and others) to help assess the potential effects of site-related constituents on sensitive wildlife receptors. Often, this work requires a deep understanding of the range of toxicity values for wildlife, which means I keep current on the toxicological literature to understand the availability of the toxicity data.

• Amphibians and Reptiles
• Water
• Sediment
• Wildlife
• Ecological Risk Assessment
• Soil

• Southeastern Regional Chapter - Professionals, 3 years