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Services  |   Conservation Easements Land Management and Endowments Land Stewardship Project Monitoring Ecological Restoration Planning Conservation Education

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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. Barry Anderson Kelly Velasco Lisa Williams Anthony Hanrahan

Associates Brent Helm Chad Aakre Gaylene Tupen

WHF Associates

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.

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.