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Board of Directors  |   Riley Swift Patrick J. Shea, Ph.D. John H. Anderson, D.V.M. William (Bill) Clark Alexander Ferreira Robert Weygandt Primo Santini

Staff  |   Patrick J. Shea, Ph.D. Kelly Velasco Lisa Williams Mary Meyerpeter

Associates Barry Anderson Brent Helm Chad Aakre Mark Jennings, Ph.D. Michelle Korpos Gaylene Tupen

WHF Associates

Barry Anderson

Biologist

Barry Anderson is a biologist with more than 35 years of experience. He holds a B.S. in crop production and an M.S. in biology from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, and has done additional graduate work in horticulture (Purdue University) and plant geography and systematics (University of California, Santa Barbara). Mr. Anderson's specialties include wetland delineations, general vegetation surveys, rare-plant surveys, and permitting. He has conducted wetland delineations throughout California's Central Valley, the San Francisco Bay Area, Sierra Nevada foothills, and east side of the Sierra. Over the years, Mr. Anderson has prepared or assisted with the preparation of more than 500 biological resources assessments, many of them in the valley, foothills, and Bay Area. He has conducted rare-plant surveys in nearly every county in California, from the deserts, to Modoc County, west to the north coast, and south to the Santa Barbara area. Mr. Anderson is also a field associate with the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco. He was selected to be the first permanent staff botanist at Strybing Arboretum in Golden Gate Park. He helped organize and map the garden's collections and wrote the database programs that documented new and existing garden accessions. Mr. Anderson is familiar with the Clean Water Act and the Endangered Species Act and has prepared numerous applications for both Nationwide Permits and Individual Corps Permits. In addition, he has prepared applications for 401 Water Quality Certifications and 1600 Streambed Alteration Agreements. He is familiar with the California Environmental Quality Act and the National Environmental Policy Act, and has prepared biological sections for EIRs and EISs on a number of projects. He has also completed or assisted with surveys for the following species: valley elderberry longhorn beetle, delta green ground beetle, El Segundo blue butterfly, mission blue butterfly, callippe silverspot butterfly, vernal pool fairy shrimp, vernal pool tadpole shrimp, California tiger salamander, and California red-legged frog. He is also an avid birder.

Brent Helm

Helm Biological Consulting, LLC

Dr. Brent Helm is a senior wetland ecologist, botanist, and wildlife biologist with 20 years of experience assisting clients in complying with wetland and endangered species laws and regulations. He has served as project manager on numerous large-scale, complex, and controversial projects. Dr. Helm specializes in regional habitat conservation planning and management, wetland compliance (Section 404 of the Clean Water Act and Section 10 of the Rivers and Harbors Act), endangered species compliance (Sections 7 and 10 of the federal Endangered Species Act), and habitat construction (restoration, enhancement, and creation). He draws on his background in consensus building, interest-based negotiation, wetland ecology, and endangered species management and conservation. His understanding of state and federal land use regulations, the principles of conservation biology and land stewardship, and knowledge of wetland habitats and endangered species of California enables him to bridge the gap between wetland ecology and management and the formulation of development, mitigation, and conservation policies affecting wetlands. Dr. Helm has worked on more than 450 projects consisting of private, nonprofit, city, county, state, and federal entities. They have ranged from residential and commercial development to countywide habitat conservation plans and mitigation banks with multiple county service areas. Dr. Helm is included on USFWS' list of recognized specialists in fairy shrimp identification and natural history.

Chad Aakre

Restoration Ecologist

Chad Aakre is a well-rounded ecologist well suited to his role at Restoration Resources. Mr. Aakre's primary responsibility is to manage the monitoring activities of approximately 12 projects. His knowledge of traditional terrestrial and aquatic ecology assessment techniques along with a detailed knowledge of the flora and fauna of the Sacramento Valley and surrounding foothills make him well suited to data collection, statistical analysis, and the report writing associated with monitoring. Mr. Aakre ensures that monitoring is done objectively, accurately, and timely. Along with monitoring, he works with the design and consulting department on oak and wetland mitigation, habitat design, timber-stand improvement, GPS data collection and manipulation, weed management, wildlife usage, and habitat value. Mr. Aakre has a B.S. in both ecology and life science from Winona State University, and a minor in geology. He is a member of the California Native Grasslands Association, California Invasive Plant Council, National Audubon Society, and American Birdwatching Association.

Mark Jennings, Ph.D.

Senior Associate Ecologist and Herpetologist, Live Oak Associates

Dr. Mark Jennings is a versatile, highly trained ecologist with specialties in both fisheries ecology and herpetology. He has worked extensively with a variety of fishes, reptiles, and amphibians throughout California and is a noted authority on a number of species including the tidewater goby, steelhead, California tiger salamander, red-legged frog, western pond turtle and giant garter snake. As a research associate at the California Academy of Sciences, he completed a 4-year study of the status of third-category (species of special concern) amphibians and reptiles in California for the California Department of Fish and Game. The product of this research is the most comprehensive description of the distribution and status of all species of special concern ever produced in the state. The report served as the model for subsequent species-of-special-concern reports on other vertebrate groups, which includes recommendations for changes in listing status, as warranted, and for future research. Over the past 10 years, Dr. Jennings has consulted on more than 500 projects throughout California. Dr. Jennings has held a research position as a fish biologist with the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), National Fisheries Contaminant Research Center, Dixon, California. His research efforts concentrated on the effects of selenium on fisheries of the San Joaquin Valley, California. He is certified as a fisheries scientist and conducted a variety of studies before his work with USFWS, including stream surveys in Pima County, Arizona, an assessment of impacts of dredge mining on streams, the effects of fire on fish populations, and an assessment of anadromous fish stocks in the Clearwater River in Idaho. He has taught an upper-division fisheries course and assisted in several laboratory courses. Since 1980, Dr. Jennings has published more than 75 scientific papers in the fields of ichthyology and herpetology. He is currently working on a major study of the tidewater goby for the California Department of Transportation.

Michelle Korpos

Wildlife Ecologist, Live Oak Associates

Michelle Korpos is a versatile ecologist with knowledge in plant, wildlife, tide pool, and riparian ecology. She has worked on wildlife and vegetation projects throughout northern California and in Costa Rica. Her senior thesis included a habitat suitability analysis for mountain lions in the Santa Cruz Mountain Range, using GIS mapping applications. As a result, she was one of 150 scientists invited to the California Missing Linkages Conference 2000. Ms. Korpos has experience performing live captures, releases, and chemical immobilization of large mammals; collecting biological measurements; performing radio telemetry tracking; conducting quadrant sampling on endangered plant and animal species; and performing topographical surveys. As a docent at the Natural Bridges State Park, Ms. Korpos acquired substantial knowledge of the natural history of the monarch butterfly. As a project manager with Live Oak Associates, Inc., Ms. Korpos focuses on general wildlife surveys, habitat assessments, riparian assessments, and protocol-level surveys for special-status species; preparation of special-status species management plans (including coordination of large-scale projects requiring her to manage up to 15 biologists per project); CEQA/NEPA documents including initial studies and biotic sections of environmental impact reports; biological assessments in support of Section 7 consultations; habitat conservation plans in support of Section 10 consultations; and natural environment surveys.

Gaylene Tupen

Wildlife Biologist

Gaylene Tupen is a biologist with over 20 years of professional experience in natural resource management. She has a B.S. in Environmental and Systematic Biology from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. Ms. Tupen is experienced in wildlife habitat assessments, impact evaluation, mitigation planning and monitoring. She has conducted numerous sensitive wildlife surveys and habitat assessments throughout California, including coastal areas, the Sierra Nevada, foothills region, and the San Joaquin Valley. Ms. Tupen has completed rare migratory bird surveys and nesting raptors surveys in various locations throughout Northern California and the Central California coastal region. She is experienced in preparing aquatic resource assessments and has completed several habitat assessments for California red-legged frog. She has lead or assisted with focused surveys for special-status terrestrial wildlife species such as burrowing owl, coast horned lizard, western snowy plover, blunt-nosed leopard lizard, San Joaquin kit fox, and invertebrates including Morro shoulderband snail and valley elderberry longhorn beetle. Ms. Tupen has also participated in focused surveys for a variety of sensitive aquatic species including southern steelhead, tidewater goby, unarmored threespine stickleback and California red-legged frog. She has prepared detailed inventories of fish and wildlife resources as part of regional and local planning documents throughout California. Ms. Tupen is familiar with the California Environmental Quality Act and has prepared biological resource sections as part of Environmental Impact Reports for numerous projects throughout California and Washington. She spends much of her time outdoors enjoying hiking and biking in the American River Canyon, as well as cross country skiing and kayaking wherever possible. Ms. Tupen volunteers for local resource conservation groups by assisting with stream monitoring programs and participating in the Christmas bird counts with the Audubon Society.