The San Francisco Bay Area Chapter of the Association of Environmental Professionals would like to wish all of our members and their families a safe and happy holiday season.  No matter where we live or where we might travel, environmental issues are at the forefront of everyone's minds these days, be it something as large as adaptation to and environmental impacts from global warming or something as local as the air quality in your back yard.  As an organization dedicated to assist professionals by fostering a sense of excellent environmental practices in all aspects of our lives, we hope that over the course of this past year your local AEP chapter has helped keep our membership current on these issues.

We started off the year with a screening of the movie Pad Yatra, a documentary that brought into focus the impacts of global warming in the Himalayas on both people and the environment.  Throughout the year we also tried to provide some training for our members at CEQA advanced and basics workshops, a NEPA workshop, and three workshops to help everyone better digest the impacts of SB 743 on our practices.  We also tried to get everyone out of your office chairs and into the great outdoors, from a walk through the salt ponds in Menlo Park, to a hike in Jenner Headlands, to a bike ride across the new Bay Bridge.  Your local chapter also brought you opportunities for networking with other professionals at various happy hour events throughout the Bay, many of these in cooperation with the APA.  But perhaps most importantly we also gave away three scholarships to promising young environmental students, the kind of folks we look forward to working with in the future.

As part of our larger organization, we hope many of you got a chance to enjoy some of the conference events.  This year our State Conference was held at a wonderful venue in Huntington Beach, and it gave members a chance to both network with other professionals from around the state as well as provided a wide variety of technical discussions any practitioner could benefit from.  The state AEP also hosted an AEP Institute, a new effort by AEP to introduce our organization to a wider audience and  become a leader in planning for the future of the environment in California.  This year's topic was timely: managing the future of our water resources.  And as a special event this year we held our first Northern California Conference in cooperation with the Superior California chapter of the AEP.  A resounding success, we took the AEP benefits on the road to many of our members in the northern part of the state that do not get to share in our events as often as the rest of us.

So what do we have to look forward to in 2015?  Much more of the same great benefits!  Look out for even more learning events in 2015, as we welcome some new vice presidents for programs to the chapter board.  Also, more happy hours and opportunities for networking around the Bay.  But also watch for another AEP Institute next summer.  This time it will be held in the Bay area, and hopefully many of us can attend.  And of course do not forget to register for the State Conference, this  year to be held in Santa Barbara at a location not to be missed!

But as we move into 2015, please help us to make this chapter whatever you want and need it to be.  If you have ideas for a program or learning event, then let us know.  Can you host an event?  Let us know that as well.  Do not forget we have opportunities for your company to sponsor our website and newsletter, and the money we make from that goes to student scholarships.  We also welcome articles for the newsletter.  So pick up your pen and share your project experiences with us.

Most of all, please come join your fellow AEP members at events, programs, and conferences.  We would like to see you all more often as we work together to improve the environment here in California and throughout the world.

All the best for 2015.

Peter Masson, Director

On Behalf of the AEP Bay Area Chapter Board