Wetland Studies and Solutions, Inc. (WSSI) emerged from The Michael Rolband Company, a real estate development firm founded in 1988 by Michael S. Rolband, PE, PWD, PWS Emeritus, LEED AP, which specialized in environmentally-challenged sites. In 1991, the organization incorporated under the new name of Wetland Studies and Solutions, Inc. to reflect our shift in focus to Clean Water Act permitting and the regulatory requirements of state and local water protection efforts, including Virginia's Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act. WSSI became a Wholly Owned Subsidiary of The Davey Tree Expert Company on April 1, 2014.
contact us
- Year Founded: 1991
- Current Employees: 220+
- Projects Completed to Date: ±10,000
- Project Acreage: ±400,000 acres
- Primary Service Area: Mid-Atlantic Region
Today, Wetland Studies and Solutions, Inc. is the leading environmental and cultural resources consultant in the Mid-Atlantic. Our engineers, scientists, regulatory specialists, hazardous materials specialists, permit compliance specialists, arborists, archeologists, architectural historians, ecosystem & restoration specialists, surveyors, and geographic information specialists provide expertise and experience for public and private sector builders to obtain the environmental approvals needed to create the built environment.
WSSI has provided services and permit approvals on ±10,000 projects, encompassing ±400,000 acres. We also have created and restored over 1,000 acres of wetlands and designed 73 miles of stream restoration.
Click here to browse
As a testament to WSSI’s outstanding achievements and unparalleled expertise in our field, we have received numerous industry achievement awards, and our principal engineers and scientists are often asked to conduct classes and seminars for local universities, industry associations, and regulatory agencies, including: the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (COE), the NAIOP Commercial Real Estate Development Association, the Northern Virginia Building Industry Association (NVBIA), the Engineers and Surveyors Institute (ESI), and the American Law Institute. In addition, WSSI staff frequently serve on technical advisory committees and testify before local, state, and national legislative committees regarding wetlands and water resources' policy.
WSSI has seven offices in Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, and Florida, and always maintains our principle of holistically examining environmental and cultural issues in the development process. Understanding the unique perspectives of our clients allows us to successfully integrate the practical constraints of economics and land plan requirements with the need to satisfy local, state, and federal regulations.
Strategic Acquisitions
In November 2020, we expanded our operations in Central and Southwestern Virginia with the acquisition of EEE Consulting, Inc. (3e). Established in 1998, 3e provided a wide range of environmental and engineering services, including site assessment and remediation; water resource and stormwater management; NEPA document preparation; brownfield redevelopment; certified drone surface modeling; and natural resource investigations and permitting.
WSSI established a Hampton Roads office in 2018 by acquiring Kerr Environmental Services Corporation, a restoration and environmental consulting firm in Virginia Beach. Since 2002 Kerr Environmental had provided natural resource investigations and permitting, as well as stream restoration, wetland mitigation, shoreline stabilization, NEPA support, and Environmental Site Assessments. The Hampton Roads location allows WSSI to better support the needs of our clients throughout the Commonwealth, and also gives us a fourth location in Virginia in addition to our Maryland office.
In 2014, WSSI acquired Klebasko Environmental, a Maryland-based full service environmental consulting firm. Klebasko Environmental’s principals brought more than 30 years of combined experience providing a wide range of environmental studies from wetland delineations, jurisdictional determination site visits, and Joint Federal/State wetland permit applications to forest stand delineations, natural resource inventory studies, and forest conservation plans. When combined with WSSI’s 25 years of providing natural and cultural resources consulting on both sides of the Potomac River, our integration with Klebasko Environmental enhanced our ability to provide unsurpassed natural and cultural resource consulting services for our clients throughout Maryland.
In 2009, WSSI acquired CivilTraining, LLC, a leading provider of hands-on training, implementation, and consulting services for civil engineering, surveying, and GIS software. CivilTraining’s services boost productivity – and therefore, profitability – through technology. CivilTraining strives to promote knowledge and best practices and has served the industry continuously since 1984, assisting clients with standards implementation, project management, survey automation, and CAD training.
In 2004, WSSI acquired Thunderbird Archeological Associates (TAA), founded in 1981 by Dr. William M. Gardner and Dr. Joan M. Walker from the nucleus of the archeology non-profit Thunderbird Research Corporation. The merger formalized a working relationship between the two firms that dated back more than a decade. Similar to WSSI, TAA operated with a multi-disciplinary, environmentally-oriented focus. Now, with both firms functioning as one seamless unit, WSSI provides streamlined environmental and cultural resource consulting services with unmatched time and cost-efficiency for its clients.
“WSSI works to ensure their own success by ensuring their client succeeds. They have been an invaluable team member who clearly focuses on productivity and quality – the quality of their designs and construction documents are un-paralleled. WSSI has also been an advocate for advancing the science and understanding in the environmental field.”