WESTON Employees Continue to Make a Difference on Mare Island

WEST CHESTER, PA — June 14, 2009 – Weston Solutions, Inc. (WESTON^®), a leading environmental, redevelopment, and construction firm, is working with the City of Vallejo, CA, Mare Island Shoreline Heritage Preserve (Preserve) to transform a former naval ammunition depot at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard into a park. Working from a Preserve “wish list,” WESTON employees will spend Wednesday, June 17, 2009, on the southern end of the island to clean up, enhance, and restore the island’s natural beauty.

Approximately 175 employees will work in teams to spread roadway gravel; install informational signposts on nature trails; build a barrier fence around a raised picnic area; repaint the “Welcome Hut” for visitor check-in; recycle worn picnic tables, benches, and barbecues; repaint the fence surrounding the historic Mare Island Naval Cemetery; create gravestone rubbings and document gravestone condition for use as a historic record and for inclusion in a future proposal to restore the cemetery; restore historic benches at scenic points; and perform general cleanup, minor repair, weeding, and mowing at various points within the 98-acre Heritage Park.

Participant Patrick G. McCann, WESTON President and CEO stated, “I remember our November 2002 Mare Island celebration of, what was at the time, the largest early transfer of Department of Defense property to an outside entity. Over these past 7 years, great progress has been made to achieve the vision for the transformation of Mare Island. WESTON is extremely proud to have been a part of that effort, offering sustainable solutions for the economic revitalization of Mare Island and the surrounding area. Our employees have been part of this island’s history—a number of the original naval employees have been working here for decades. I wholeheartedly support their efforts to make a difference in this community so everyone can enjoy the splendor of this island for years to come.”

WESTON’s efforts support the goals of the Preserve—to connect the historic significance and natural beauty of Mare Island and to increase public access to the Preserve. The Preserve is rich in naval history, with munitions storage bunkers set into the hillsides and the oldest naval cemetery west of the Mississippi, dating from 1858. Rising from the shoreline of San Pablo Bay, the Preserve’s vistas include the City of Vallejo and the seven surrounding counties.

Myrna Hayes, Arc Ecology Volunteer at the Preserve, commented, “My fellow volunteers and I are so pleased that WESTON has taken the Preserve under its wing. It will be wonderful to see the place transformed before our eyes, which WESTON is already good at doing in the Preserve. It takes a host of volunteers, non-profit groups, agencies, local and regional businesses, corporations and foundations working together in a true labor of love to convert this former military property to parkland. WESTON is setting the bar for the rest of our regional community. Together we will realize our dream of a park of regional, state and national importance.”

WESTON has been performing work on the island since 2001, managing the early transfer of the western parcel of Mare Island from the U.S. Navy to the California State Lands Commission (SLC), and has performed environmental remediation and discarded military munitions removal in the dredge ponds, landfill, and historic disposal areas. WESTON sponsors the annual Flyway Festival on Mare Island, participates in numerous fundraisers for the Lions Club, Rotary Club, and Police Athletic League, and has performed several other cleanup efforts. WESTON Vice President Cris Jespersen and Project Manager Dwight Gemar serve or have served in a variety of capacities on the Restoration Advisory Board and with The Friends of the San Pablo Bay National Wildlife Refuge.

Based in West Chester, PA, WESTON has full-service offices in Walnut Creek, Chatsworth, Newport Beach, and Carlsbad, CA. Project offices are located in Marina, Oakland, and Vallejo. WESTON delivers integrated, sustainable solutions for environmental restoration, property redevelopment, design/build construction, green buildings, and clean energy. Dedicated to making a difference in the world, the company’s 1,800 people reach out from 60 offices around the globe to build strong stakeholder relationships and produce solutions that work. WESTON has been responding to our clients’ toughest problems for more than 50 years.