Mat Rogers

I offer consulting services to projects related to water, agriculture, and sustainability. I bring to task more than a decade of experience in engineering, a large network of connections, and a breadth and depth of knowledge in the function and design of natural systems.

Please contact me to discuss your project needs. Example areas of expertise are listed below.

Industry and Government

natural treatment systems
GIS and spatial analysis
pollutant fate and transport
non-point source pollution
agricultural water quality
watershed restoration

Institutions and Nonprofits

ecological design
sustainable agriculture programs
onsite stormwater and water treatment
water conservation and reuse
custom plant propagation
pond and stream restoration

Individuals and Families

home sustainability analysis
urban agriculture/permaculture
greywater/rainwater systems
composting
waste minimization
green products

Projects

Residential Garden Oakland, California Project Background A residential garden in the Rockridge neighborhood. Heavy clay soil was improved with spent mushroom growth media and composted horse bedding. The garden was planted with heirloom tomatoes and Colorado peppers in the eastern bed. The middle bed was planted in a three sisters configuration of Bloody Butcher Corn, Hidatsa Shield Beans, and Connecticut Field Pumpkin. The western bed, under a lemon tree was planted in Yellow Indian Woman beans, birdhouse guord, and Arikara sunflowers. This garden was designed to represent crops of the Americas.
	Watershed Restoration Oakland, California Project Background Several lots of private forrested land on the Glen Echo Creek alluvial terrace were overun by invasive species (Black acacia and Algerian ivy) and trash from an adjacent condiminium tower. The hill slope was destabilized from a lack of understory vegetation. This project is an ongoing process to remove the invasive species while dealing with the built up biomass, a potential wildfire threat. Unstable slopes were stabilized with wattle walls, filled in with mulch, and planted. Native California Bay Laurel trees were established on the site and brush was cleared from existing Coast Live Oaks to encourage their growth.
Wetland Microcosm Living Machine Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California Project Background I was asked to design and build a bench-scale wetland microcosm to study nutrient removal in wetlands. Parallel wetland cells were filled with sediments from a permanent wetland and planted with Scirpus, lit by a bank of compact fluorescent lights. These cells were served by independent water filtration and circulation systems, nutrient solution feed, and temperature regulation chillers. Also part of the system were dual phytoplankton and zooplankton refugia and a pond cell with fish and crayfish. The wetland system achieved statis and operated for over a year, even hatching an emergence of damselflies and supporting a population of benthic oligochaetes.

	Discovery Bay Water Treatment Wetland Discovery Bay, California Project Background Professors at UC Berkeley were asked to study the removal of copper at the wastewater treatment plant for Discovery Bay using tertiary treatment wetlands. I assisted in the layout, plant material harvesting/processing, and planting of three treatment pond cells in Scirpus and Typha for use as contructed wetlands.
Ecological Sanitation System Oakland, California Project Background A single-family residential greywater and blackwater vermicomposting system designed and built by Nik Bertulis in the Rockridge neighborhood of Oakland, California. I consulted on groundwater hydrology, contaminant fate and transport, and pathogen deactivation during the implementation and testing phase of the project in anticipation of gaining a state permit for the system. This system became a demonstration project for Engineers for a Sustainable World and the course Ecological Engineering for Water Quality Improvement (CE 113) at UC Berkeley.
	Glen Echo Park Oakland, California Project Background Glen Echo Creek is daylit in several stretches near Piedmont Avenue and Monte Vista Avenue. These stretches were left open as flood abatement projects. Habitat was improved from the earlier riprap in the creek bed with willow plantings to slow water velocity and cool the creek. Young willows grew too thickly, smothering other vegetation and causing security concerns. Several years of selective pruning created a shady overstory, thick root mats to stabilize soil, and a productive understory including native (not Himalayan) blackberries.