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Farewell to one of Washington’s most prominent geologists
An era is ending at the Washington State Department of Natural Resources. After a very productive 38-year career Tim Walsh is retiring Friday from the Washington Geological Survey. It seems like a long time to us, but to geologists, 38 years is a standard rounding error.
Tim Walsh began his career at DNR in 1980 as a project geologist for the Survey mapping and assessing coal resources in Washington. Shortly after his hire, Tim flew a reconnaissance flight to observe smoke coming from Mount St. Helens. The small plane carrying the California native could barely top the mountain’s then 9,677-foot elevation. Had he waited a couple months, he could have easily circled the peak, as the May 18, 1980 eruption took 1,314 feet off Mount St. Helens’ top.
In the mid-1980s, he transitioned into mapping geologic quadrangles, including seven 1:100,000-scale quadrangles and the 1:250,000-scale quadrant map of southwest Washington.
Tsunami hazard map of the Elliott Bay area, Seattle, Washington Modeled tsunami inundation from a Seattle fault earthquake Walsh, T. J.; Titov, V. V.; Venturato, A. J.; Mofjeld, H. O.; Gonzalez, F. I., 2003, Open File Report 2003-14, scale:1:50,000In 1988, Tim became the Chief Hazards Geologist, performing fault trench studies, geologic mapping, liquefaction analysis, and tsunami hazard mapping. During his tenure as Chief Hazards Geologist, Tim produced 14 tsunami hazard maps along with several earthquake-induced liquefaction studies in areas vulnerable to tsunamis.
He also provided technical assistance for large geological events in Washington, including the eruptions of Mount St. Helens in 1980 and 2004, the 2001 Nisqually earthquake, the storm-related landslide events of 2007 and 2009, the 2014 SR530 landslide at Oso and more recently, the 2017–2018 Rattlesnake Hills landslide.
In 2017, Tim accepted the Assistant Division Manager position for the Survey, advising the geological hazard assessment work in the Chehalis Basin, serving to bolster Resilient Washington’s efforts, and providing guidance on the Washington School Seismic Safety projects.
Tim authored or co-authored 71 Washington Geological Survey publications. He is one of the foremost voices in what we know about how Washington was formed.
We are going to miss hearing his many, many stories every day. Stories about bee attacks during field work, infamous arguments between geologists at conferences, and local geology lore for anywhere we go to do more geologic investigation. We will also miss his old-school blue-and-yellow Powerpoint presentations that read like novels.
We will always appreciate his ability to leave his ego at the door and freely share his vast well of knowledge. He mentored many of us, and made a team of geologists better for it.
He intends to spend his retirement teaching, volunteering, traveling, and gardening. Cheers!
Sheep Creek Campground and Road is OPEN (Sheep Creek Fire Wildfire)
Sheep Creek Road and Campground is OPEN (Horns Mountain Wildfire)
Horns Mountain Fire Update 8-29-18 (Horns Mountain Wildfire)
Umpqua National Forest Road Closure Order No. 06-15-00-18-401 (Miles Fire Wildfire)
Taylor Creek and Klondike Fires Daily Update - August 29 (Taylor Creek Fire Wildfire)
8/29 Natchez Fire Update (Natchez Fire Wildfire)
2018-08-29- Spanish Update-CrescentMTN (McLeod Fire Wildfire)
Taylor Creek and Klondike Fires Daily Update - August 29 (Klondike Fire Wildfire)
2018-08-29-Spanish Update-Crescent MTN (Crescent Mountain Fire Wildfire)
Miriam Fire Update August 29, 2018 (Miriam Fire Wildfire)
2018-08-29-Smoke Outlook-North Columbia Basin (McLeod Fire Wildfire)
Watson Creek Fire Daily Update 8-29-18 (Watson Creek Fire Wildfire)
2018-08-29 Smoke Update-North Columbia Basin (Crescent Mountain Fire Wildfire)
Smoke Report - August 29 and 30 (Miles Fire Wildfire)
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