Shaping Watersheds With Precision And Purpose

 

Janae Spence is engineering watershed resilience, breathing life into ecosystems while fortifying them against urban and ecological stressors. As the assistant director of the watershed protection department for the City of Austin, she boasts a robust portfolio that ranges from streambank stabilization to dam reconstruction. She aims to protect communities from floods, improve water quality and reinforce the city’s natural defenses against the growing impacts of climate change.

Leading the project design and delivery division, she ensures that infrastructure is built and designed to be future-proof, constantly threading the needle between urban development and environmental sustainability. Streambank stabilization, stormwater control measures and flood-prone area buyouts are not mere tasks on her checklist but critical initiatives that have shaped her career.

Her expertise in engineering and project management runs deep. Before ascending to the current role, Spence amassed significant experience within the City of Austin’s Public Works Department. Overseeing the community services division, she helmed programs like Safe Routes to School, Urban Trails and Urban Forestry—all aimed at fostering community wellbeing through accessible and environmentally considerate infrastructure. Her ability to align large-scale urban projects with public interests quickly established her as a transformative force in Austin’s municipal operations.

Spence started her career as a graduate engineer for the City of San Marcos, where she managed complex capital improvement projects addressing water, wastewater, streets and drainage systems. She honed her technical expertise through hands-on work in engineering design and development review, laying the foundation for her strategic leadership.

Her approach to watershed management transcends traditional infrastructure development. It is built on a philosophy of coexistence, creating infrastructure that serves people while preserving the environment. She recently supervised a water quality improvement project in a West Austin neighborhood park to reduce pollution in a creek by cleaning stormwater runoff and offsetting the impact of continued urbanization on streams. The job also involved replacing a long-standing wastewater line that runs through the park and stabilizing stream erosion.

In a world grappling with the consequences of climate change, Spence has carved a reputation as a change-maker, laying the blueprint for sustainable city development. From reinforcing eroding streambanks to mitigating flood risks and improving stormwater control, she transforms complex infrastructure challenges into lasting environmental solutions. With every watershed she revitalizes, she proves that urbanization and nature don’t have to compete but can coexist, creating a stronger and more resilient ecosystem.