Presented by David T Lightle, CPESC
David Lightle brings over 50 years of erosion and sediment control experience to his clients. After graduating from the University of Illinois in 1967 and serving in the US Army in Vietnam, Dave joined the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (Formerly the Soil Conservation Service in 1966, holding various county, state and regional positions as a Soil Conservationist and Agronomist over his 44 year career. Prior to retirement, Lightle served as national database manager for erosion prediction models (RUSLE2 and WEPS). In addition Lightle was the lead contact for the RUSLE2 model for NRCS. Lightle also developed the SCI, the STIR rating, and other tools used by staff in the 3000 NRCS field offices.
Lightle retired in 2010 and became a private consultant specializing in conducting RUSLE2 training and providing assistance to government agencies in adopting RUSLE2 for their jurisdictions. Lightle has conducted training workshops and assisted two Canadian provinces implement RUSLE2 by customizing the model and databases for use in Canada. In addition, Lightle's US clients include Caltrans, the Idaho Transportation Department, Southern California Edison, Sandia National Labs, the New Mexico Department of Transportation and Pacific Gas and Electric.
In his consulting work Lightle has utilized a new modified version of RUSLE2 containing new perennial vegetation modeling science to develop a specific database and custom user screens and access controls for each customer. Lightle has developed numerous new sediment barrier practice files, new mulch and commercial erosion control blanket files, new perennial vegetation files and new management files to represent common Best Management Practices required by his clients. Lightle spoke at the CASQA conference in California in 2014 and has presented full day RUSLE2 training courses at Environmental Connection 2009, 2010, 2014, 2015 and 2016 for the International Erosion Control Association.