Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals

Charlie Schlinger, Professional Engineer – PE (AZ, CA, MI, MN), Registered Geologist (AZ), Certified Professional Geologist – CPG, has lived in Michigan, where he was born and raised, for the past five (5) years. Prior to that, he lived and worked in the western and southwestern U.S., with a stint in Minnesota, for nearly 42 years. For much of his career, he provided engineering and geosciences services for tribal, state, federal, municipal, county, school district, university, industry, non-governmental organization (NGO) and private-sector clients. Throughout that period Charlie often worked with tribes and tribal organizations, communities and schools, including the Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals at Northern Arizona University (NAU). In addition, he served early on as a professor in geosciences at the University of Utah, where he managed or led geology, geophysics, geomagnetism and materials-science research projects funded by the National Science Foundation, Smithsonian Institution, NASA, and various state agencies and foundations. Subsequently, he was a professor in civil & environmental engineering at NAU, where he is an emeritus professor in the College of Engineering. Prior to leaving NAU in 2015 to focus full-time on consulting engineering and science, his areas of specialty included water systems/resources, geotechnical, and geomatics/surveying engineering. He co-founded the Watershed Research & Education Program at NAU.

Charlie earned his B.S. degree at the University of Michigan in Flint, and received his Ph.D. from The John Hopkins University, with a focus in geophysics and geology. Later in his career, he earned a master’s degree in civil and environmental engineering from Utah State University.

Charlie’s work in engineering began in earnest in 1991, when he joined the Yucca Mountain Project in Nevada, contributing to geotechnical, hydrogeological, and geophysical site characterization activities led by the Department of Energy as part of its efforts to site and develop a nuclear waste repository. Next, he served as a geotechnical engineer and geophysicist for STS Consultants, in Minneapolis, MN, where he was responsible for project engineering and project management for the iron ore-mining industry, federal, county and municipal government, and for commercial and other industrial clients. This included Mesabi Iron Range tailings basin engineering, together with tailings basin closure and remediation planning.

Upon returning to the Southwest in 1996, Charlie joined Plateau Engineering in Flagstaff, AZ, and engaged on a wide range of civil engineering and water resources engineering projects, many involving construction of improvements, for county and local government, for tribal governments and schools, and for other clients. Projects included evaluating existing water supplies and developing new water supplies in the Second Mesa and Kayenta areas, both for schools and communities, such as Sipaulovi. He subsequently worked on water infrastructure projects for the Ak Chin and Moenkopi (Hopi) communities.

In 2009, Charlie co-founded EN3 Professionals. His work with EN3 continued through 2022 and focused on water resources and infrastructure, utilities, renewable energy development, Topock Gas Compressor Station groundwater contamination remediation (hexavalent chromium), water resources work for the City of Flagstaff and a variety of other engineering and environmental endeavors, including air quality modeling using EPA’s AERMOD software as part of litigation support. From late 2015 to summer of 2016, Charlie worked with Flagstaff City staff and Integrated Hydro Systems, leading a successful initiative that yielded an integrated distributed FEMA- and City-funded GIS-based hydrologic and hydraulic model of the 160-square-mile Rio de Flag watershed using MIKE SHE software. A primary application was simulation of post-wildfire flooding and assessment of associated drainage infrastructure improvements. In 2016 he commenced work with the National Tribal Water Council (NTWC) as a member of its Technical Advisory Committee (TAC), with which he continues to this day. Charlie also led Watergems and Sewercad numerical simulations of the City of Flagstaff water and sewer systems for impact analyses required as part of the City’s development approval process.

More recently, he has been involved with mining-related environmental impact statement review for environmental non-governmental organizations, mineral potential reporting for a federal land exchange in Pinetop-Lakeside, AZ, and is again serving seven tribes as a member of the Technical Review Committee for the Topock groundwater contamination remediation project, inclusive of soil removal actions ongoing along the Colorado River where I-40 crosses the river.

From 2021 to 2023, he took a series of undergraduate and graduate-level courses in microbial biology, bioinformatics and genetics to grow and sustain his ongoing interests in these fields.

In the past several years, as a private citizen, he has developed expertise on aviation-related lead exposures in near-airport communities – an issue with far-reaching national implications and application for children’s public and environmental health.

Phone: 928-380-1039

Email: schlinger.engeo@gmail.com