Clement Riddle Appointed North Carolina Land & Water Fund Trustee

EnviroScience Senior Scientist Rutledge "Clement" Riddle Named North Carolina Land & Water Fund Trustee

EnviroScience Senior Scientist Rutledge “Clement” Riddle, a seasoned professional with over 30 years of experience, has been appointed Trustee to the North Carolina Land & Water Fund (NCLWF).

This appointment highlights Clement’s understanding of North Carolina’s environmental challenges. The state continues to experience rapid growth while having many legacy environmental issues. Clement is adept at balancing development needs with sustainable, innovative solutions to environmental challenges. 

Clement Riddle’s New Role as NCLWF Trustee

The North Carolina Land & Water Fund, formerly the Clean Water Management Trust Fund, has been a cornerstone in preserving North Carolina’s natural and cultural resources since its establishment in 1996. For the past 25 years, the fund has played a crucial role in conserving over half a million acres and protecting or restoring 3,000 miles of streams and rivers across the state. Clement’s appointment as a Trustee underscores his expertise and commitment to environmental sustainability.

As a trustee, Clement will be part of the review process for grant applications and approve funding for projects aimed at conservation and restoration efforts across the state. His role in the Restoration, Innovative Stormwater, and Planning Committee within the NCLWF is a perfect fit for his experience and skill set.

Led by Clement, the committee reviewed and awarded grants for various projects in 2023, collectively contributing to the advancement of environmental sustainability throughout North Carolina. The funds allocated for these endeavors exceeded an impressive $48 million, reflecting the commitment of the NCLWF to supporting impactful initiatives.

EnviroScience’s Strategic Move

A development that further strengthened Clement’s impact on environmental conservation was EnviroScience, Inc.’s acquisition of ClearWater Environmental Consultants in October 2021. ClearWater, a natural resource and environmental compliance-based firm founded by Clement Riddle specializing in wetlands, permitting, and ecological and environmental services, is now an integral part of EnviroScience.

The synergy between ClearWater and EnviroScience has been extremely exciting and has increased all parties’ collective capacity, geographic range, and expertise. One of the compelling reasons for this acquisition was the shared culture between ClearWater and EnviroScience, which aligns with our Core Values—including teamwork, client advocacy, respect, accountability, quality, and safety.

Clement Riddle’s Integral Role at EnviroScience

Clement Riddle, now a Senior Scientist at EnviroScience, brings a wealth of experience and expertise to the team. With a master’s degree in planning and a concentration in environmental planning and land development, he founded ClearWater Environmental Consultants, Inc. in 2002. As the Principal for large and technical permitting projects at EnviroScience, Clement oversees all environmental projects, including mitigation design and monitoring, permitting for various developments, and Environmental Assessments for NEPA/SEPA compliance.


Few environmental firms in the country retain EnviroScience’s degree of scientific know-how, talent, and capability under one roof. The diverse backgrounds of our biologists, environmental engineers, scientists, and divers enable us to provide comprehensive in-house services and an integrated approach to solving environmental challenges—saving clients time, reducing costs, and ensuring high-quality results.

Our client guarantee is to provide “Excellence in Any Environment,” meaning no matter what we do, we will deliver on our Core Values of respect, client advocacy, quality work, accountability, teamwork, and safety. EnviroScience was created with the concept that we could solve complex problems by empowering great people. This concept still holds true today as our scientists explore the latest environmental legislation and regulations and incorporate the most up-to-date technology to gather and report data.

EnviroScience expertise includes but is not limited to aquatic surveys (including macroinvertebrate surveys and biological assessments); ecological restoration; ecological services (including impact assessments, invasive species control, and water quality monitoring);  emergency response; engineering and compliance services; endangered mussel surveys; laboratory and analysis; stormwater management; threatened and endangered species; and wetlands and streams (including delineation and mitigation). Further, EnviroScience is one of the few biological firms in the country that is a general member of the Association of Diving Contractors International (ADCI) and offers full-service commercial diving services.