Ecotone

restoration and mitigation, design, consulting, and construction services company. With a multi- disciplinary staff of ecologists, geomorphologists, engineers, and construction specialists bringing over 200 years of collective experience to the table, Ecotone, today, provides individualized solutions tailored to fit each client’s specific needs. “We’ve basically grown with the industry,” says Company President, Scott McGill. “In the beginning, we primarily were involved with Chesapeake Bay restoration in the Mid-Atlantic. We started doing design-build and built it up slowly. We hired staff in 2001. In 2005, we launched our construction division. We bought our own skid loader which, at the time, was kind of a big deal. I always go back to it and think about that and how we’ve grown so much. Ecological restoration is a multibillion- dollar business across the country now. It wasn’t always that way, but as the environmental awareness and ethic has evolved, there’s been more capital dedicated to restoring our environment. We’ve accelerated our growth in the last five years in response to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the state of Maryland really pushing to execute on ecological restoration work. A lot of our funding comes from government agencies. In Maryland, especially, there’s a real push to do restoration associated with the Chesapeake Bay.” The Bay is the largest estuary in the U.S. and Maryland plays a big part in its habitat health ecosystem restoration. In 2010, the EPA established pollution load limits to restrict three major pollutants fouling the Bay’s waters: nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment. So far, the state has met each one of its reduction targets, leading the pack as far as the other watershed jurisdictions are concerned. “We work with several of the local counties,” McGill continues. “We have task order contracts with them. One of our larger clients is the State’s Department of Natural Resources. They have a Chesapeake and Atlantic Coastal Bays Trust Fund that’s supported by a rental car tax, of all things. They allocate money every year to Company President, Scott McGill with his companion Goose