Ms. Palazzi is the president and principal scientist of Pacific Rim Soil & Water, Inc. She is a SSSA Certified Professional Soil Scientist (CPSS) and a Society of Wetland Scientists Certified Professional Wetland Scientist (PWS). Ms. Palazzi is also a member of the:
Ms. Palazzi has also provided assistance in writing local and state-wide legislation and model ordinances that affect regulations about stormwater and related hydrology issues. Ms. Palazzi's university education was focused in soil science and forest ecology. She attained her Bachelor’s degree in 1985, graduating with highest honors from Montana State University with a major in Soil Science and a minor in English Composition. Her Master's thesis, completed at Oregon State University in 1989, was centered on forest science and soil physics—the study of water and heat transport in soils. Her graduate research focused on characterization of the physical processes behind seasonal changes in soil water content and its effect on soil heat storage, soil temperature changes and seedling survival and stress response. Ms. Palazzi’s background in post-graduate research included participation in an interdisciplinary team of Oregon State University scientists studying ecosystem function of riparian systems in disturbed watersheds of Oregon's Coast Range. The research was focused on assessment and management of fisheries habitat, erosion control processes, silviculture projects, and wildlife habitat enhancement. Projects included stream reach restoration, landslide modeling, stream hydrology modeling, and extensive planting of conifer seedlings in alder-dominated riparian and upland zones. Later, working for the USFS PNW Research Lab in Olympia, Ms. Palazzi worked on statistical analysis of a large, long-term silvicultural fertilization database and on an extensive field project researching soil compaction and erosion effects in clearcut skid trails. Following that, she opened her current soil science consulting business, which has been providing expert wetlands, soils and hydrology assessment services in western Washington since 1991. Karen Wells has been working at Pacific Rim Soil & Water as a botanist since November 2010. Karen graduated with a B.S. in Biology with an emphasis in ecology from California State University, Long Beach (2002) and received a M.S. in Forestry Sciences from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo (2009). For her master’s thesis project, she developed a working protocol for the micropropagation of Monterey pines. During graduate school, she worked as a field technician monitoring the spread of Sudden Oak Death along the coast of California. She also has years of field experience in forestry, botany and entomology. Karen also currently works at the U.S. Forest Service’s Olympia Forestry Sciences Laboratory as a botany technician.
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