Our History

In 1993, Peter McRae founded Quattro Environmental with the goal of researching and developing state-of-the-art native revegetation technologies. Peter started Quattro because he realized applying the standard agronomic techniques to native revegetation projects wasn’t producing long-term sustained success that clients wanted to achieve for their projects. Clients were seeking out a more effective, long-term approach to sustainable native revegetation.

Over the past 20 years, the Quattro team has developed an industry leading, innovative approach to achieve sustainable performance for revegetation projects that have not responded to conventional seeding practices. Using our Living Soil Membrane Technology, we have delivered results that demonstrate sustained performance for native plant growth on drastically disturbed soils, primarily in the western United States where arid climate, sterile or mineral-imbalanced, high-salt soils and erosion are significant challenges.

As Quattro has grown, so has our team of expert alliance partners. Peter leads an alliance of top scientists, engineers, manufacturers, seed specialists, application contractors and thought leaders in the industry. Our team includes professionals with Ph.D.’s in soil analysis and interpretation, soil microorganism nutrition, humic substances and slope engineering. Our experts also include project team members with proven track records of site design and field implementation success. The Quattro team brings 150+ years of diverse experience to every Quattro erosion and revegetation project to ensure consistent, optimum results each and every time.

Awards

National Achievement Award, National Partnership for Highway Quality (FHWA) – 2007
Roadside Erosion Control and Native Revegetation Project
Beartooth Pass Highway
Cooke City, Montana

Best Management Practices Award, Bureau of Land Management – 2006
Sage Grouse Habitat Restoration Project
Shell Oil – Rocky Mountain Production Facility
Pinedale, Wyoming

Best New Golf Course Award – Golf Digest – 2006
Golf Course Construction – Erosion Control and Turf Establishment Project
Osprey Meadows Golf Course at Tamarack Resort
Donnelly, Idaho

United States Federal Highway Administration Environmental Award – 2003
Roadside Native Revegetation Project
Mesa Falls Scenic Highway
Ashton, Idaho

Environmental Mine Manager of the Year Award, Idaho Department of Environmental Quality – 2000
Mine Restoration – Erosion Control and Revegetation Project
Beartrack Mine
Salmon, Idaho

United States Federal Highway Administration Environmental Award– 1998
Roadside Erosion Control and Native Revegetation Project
Lost Trail Pass
Salmon, Idaho

About Peter McRae

Peter McRae
President, Chief Technical Strategist & Project Manager
Quattro Environmental, Inc.
pmcrae@quattroenvironmental.com

Peter has over 20 years experience successfully leading the Quattro Alliance team in the design and implementation of reclamation projects in harsh environments throughout the Western United States. As an innovative thought leader, Peter led the industry in developing the Quattro Living Soil Membrane Technology which promotes the natural re-establishment of functioning soil communities, the key to any sustainable native revegetation project. He has developed the Quattro BIND and GROW series product lines, a comprehensive proprietary line of soil restoration products which are manufactured across the United States.

As Chief Technical Strategist, Peter initiated the team-inspired working relationships with both the U.S. Federal Highway Administration and State transport agencies in Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, Nevada and California, as well as with private sector clients such as Shell Exploration, Hyundai Motor Corporation and Rio Tinto Minerals.

A barrister and solicitor of the Supreme Court of New Zealand, Peter came to North America via the law faculty and business school of the University of British Columbia, Canada, as a recipient of a Rotary Graduate Fellowship scholarship in 1979.

Associations

International Erosion Control Association (1993 – 2013)
International Erosion Control Association, President – Western Chapter (2007-2009)
International Erosion Control Association, Board Member – Western Chapter (2003-2013)
International Erosion Control Association, Editor – Western Chapter Newsletter (2003 – 2013)
Native Plants Alliance – Founding Member (1993– 2013)
California Native Grasslands Association (2006 – 2013)
High Altitude Revegation Workshop (1995 – 2013)
Society of Ecological Restoration – California (2006 – 2013)
Humic Products Trade Association (2012 – 2013)

Thought Leadership Presentation Series

Native Revegetation: What Works – Technology Transfer Workshop, ICEA Western Chapter, Lake Tahoe (2010), Lake Tahoe (2009), Sacramento (2008), San Diego (2008)
Re-establishment of Native Plants for Soil Stabilization, Associated General Contractors (2009)
Native Revegetation, Soil & Water Conservation Society, San Diego (2009)
Native Revegetation Workshop, IECA Conference, Las Vegas (2007)
High Altitude Revegetation Workshop Conference, Fort Collins (1994 – 2006)
Erosion Control Workshop, Idaho Department of Environmental Quality – Boise (1997 – 1999)
Growing Soil Technologies, UXO Site Remediation Technology Conference, Maui (1999)
Native Vegetation in Harsh Environments, Desert Reclamation Workshop, Department of Defense/Department of Energy Desert (1999)

Thought Leadership Published Works

Making a Difference with a Different Career, Profile of Peter McRae, IECA News (2011)
Soil Amendments Revitalize Damaged Land, Soil Erosion & Hydroseeding (2008)
Current Shortcomings of Native Seeding Project Implementation, Land and Water (2006)
Seeding Design Shortcomings: Growing Carrots in the Desert (2003)
Fundamentally Flawed? (2003)
Growing Soil (2003)

Alliance Partners

Stanley M. Miller, PhD, PE
Senior Engineer, STRATA, Inc.
Pullman, WA

Stan Miller is a Professor Emeritus in the Department of Civil Engineering at University of Idaho, and a Senior Engineer with STRATA, Inc., a geotechnical consulting firm. His work focuses on probabilistic methods in geotechnical engineering, applied rock engineering, slope stabilization, geosynthetic-reinforced earth structures, and erosion/sediment control.

Over the past 25 years, Stan has lead seminars on slope stabilization and segmental retaining walls in the United States, Canada, and Southeast Asia (Malaysia and Singapore). Several times each year, Mr. Miller serves co-instructor for the ASCE Continuing Education Seminar on “Soil and Rock Slope Stability”. Stan has designed shallow slope stabilization systems using anchored erosion mats, vegetated retaining walls and reinforced slopes, rock-slope stabilization programs using patterned rock bolts and tensioned anchors, as well as landslide stabilization programs using groundwater drainage, soil nails, tiebacks, and geosynthetic-reinforced soil systems.

Mir Seyedbagheri
Professor, University of Idaho

A soil scientist, soil agronomist and biometeorologist at the University of Idaho, Mir has 32 years of applied research experience in soil, plant, and water relations in different environments.  Mir is internationally recognized for his extensive research work on the effects of humic substances on soil and plant metabolism.  He is the recipient of 12 prestigious awards for his innovative work in soil, plant, and water-related topics.

Richard S. (Dick) Carr, III
President & Senior Project Manager, C-M Environmental Group
Reno, Nevada

Dick was formerly a minerals exploration geologist with Royal Dutch Shell’s mining group, Billiton Exploration, working projects across the United States including Alaska as well as in Egypt. In the early 1990’s he was site manager for the Standard Hill heap leach gold/silver mine in Mojave, CA. In 1993, Mr. Carr became technical advisor and consultant for the mine detoxification, closure and reclamation phases. During the mid-late 1990’s, in addition to mine closure activities, Dick consulted at a heap-leach copper mine in Nevada, and acted as operations manager for a pre-feasibility drilling program on gold-copper deposit in eastern Bolivia, now known as the Don Mario Mine.

Since 2001, he has been involved in various aspects of reclamation, restoration, re-vegetation and monitoring of mining and oil and gas sites in difficult-growing environments across the United States. Current projects include long-term revegetation monitoring of the former Standard Hill Mine heap leach facility, gravel removal and sand dune restoration of former oil well sites on the central California coast, and a sage grouse habitat restoration pilot project in the Pinedale Anticline gas field in Wyoming.