Recently Retired Talbot County Planner Sandy Coyman Joins Earth Data

Forty years of experience in watershed planning, permits, community action and comprehensive planning have made recently retired Talbot Planning Officer Sandy Coyman a powerhouse of knowledge and experience in solving municipal problems. Now, he’s signed on to help grow a new division of Centreville’s Earth Data Inc., a field-oriented consulting firm specializing in groundwater, geospatial, watershed restoration and environmental projects.

Coyman has been at the design and planning table during the Chesapeake Bay’s TMDL (Total Maximum Daily Load) watershed improvement planning process since it began. His expertise includes an understanding of cost-effectiveness of best management practice (BMP) implementation strategies. “We’re at a critical time now to meet the Chesapeake Bay clean water goals by 2025 – and that’s only ten years away. Local governments are now choosing best management practices to implement, and often, with no knowledge of their cost-effectiveness. I can help them with that” Coyman said.

Founded in 1974, Earth Data Inc. has completed more than 4,700 private, local, municipal, county, state, and federal-level projects involving the collection, analysis, management and distribution of data. With the addition of Coyman as a consultant, the company intends to reach out to all Chesapeake watershed jurisdictions to use leading edge technologies such as GIS and aerial LiDAR scanning to pinpoint exact locations for best management practice solutions and technology to measure effectiveness in helping jurisdictions meet their Watershed Improvement Plan (WIP) goals.

“Data is our middle name” said Earth Data Inc. President and CEO Mark Williams. “We have the technology to get the data, but more importantly, Earth Data has the expertise and ability – from hydrogeology and soil science to GIS, watershed, and LiDAR analysis – to solve real problems. I believe it to be true that we are making the world a better place.”