Culture

Ash Creek fosters a culture that encourages professional development, involvement in our business and social community, as well as being a partner in the broader effort for a more sustainable community.

We believe that a good consulting team requires that our employees stay fresh with evolving regulations and technical developments. We fully fund the labor and expenses for our staff to attend training seminars, and prepare and present technical papers. Within the last two years, Ash Creek personnel have moderated and/or presented sessions at the Oregon Brownfields Conference, Washington Brownfields Conference, Battelle Bioremediation Conference, Battelle Chlorinated and Recalcitrant Compounds Conference, Northwest Environmental Conference, and the American Petroleum Institute International Petroleum and Biofuels Conference.

Our team is actively involved in environmental organizations including the Oregon Association of Environmental Professionals (OAEP), Engineers Without Borders, and the American Society for Civil Engineers. Two team members are either acting board members or officers with OAEP, and one of our team members is a past president of the Oregon State Board of Examiners for Engineering and Land Surveying and American Council of Engineering Companies, Oregon chapter.

We support our employees' environmental and community outreach efforts by offering paid opportunities for educational and charitable activities.

• Michael Pickering, Senior Associate Geologist, has 10 years of involvement with the Portland Children's Clean Water Festival, a program designed to teach 4th and 5th grade students about water and how it relates to our world.
• Herb Clough, a founding Principal, is a volunteer member of the Operations Committee of the Ronald McDonald Houses of Portland.  Herb has assisted the houses by arranging donations of time for structural engineering inspection, items for a charity auction, and sponsorship of their annual golf tournament.

Other recent community outreach events have included volunteering for the Columbia Slough Watershed Council/City of Portland annual Aquifer Adventure held on the Columbia Slough, a floodplain habitat restoration project through Friends of Trees in the Fanno Creek floodplain, and the Society for Design Administration annual Canstruction event for the Oregon Food Bank.

As Ash Creek has grown, we have integrated sustainable practices into our office operations and business environment. This includes reducing our reliance on extensive hard copy document production in favor of electronic delivery. Our program of office recycling has evolved beyond the basics, (e.g., paper, metal, glass, etc), and now includes food composting, disposable battery recycling, and an annual e-waste recycling drive.