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In 1978, after attending Humboldt State University, I started my career in watershed and anadromous salmonid restoration in Redwood National Park. In those days, securing permits for restoration projects entailed meeting with a Fish and Game Warden in the field and writing up a Streambed Alteration Agreement.

Today, several decades later, the number of permits required for such restoration has multiplied to include local, state, and federal agencies, in some cases requiring as many as 13 separate entitlements or authorizations. The ecology of rivers which support anadromous salmonids is complex and still little understood. The world of regulatory “ecology” is no less complex and often little understood by those who desire to restore salmon and steelhead populations. Environmental laws and regulations apply equally to development-resource extraction land uses as they do to salmon restoration programs.

My professional goal is to facilitate the restoration of our riverine environments and salmon resources through historical research and by conducting insuring that my clients are in compliance with environmental laws and regulations.

Environmental protection of riverine environments and resources is mandated by numerous legislative statutes which are implemented via an even greater number of regulations adopted by local, state, and federal agencies.  The Courts’ interpretations of these statutes and regulations have often resulted in the modification of their application to assure protection of these riverine environments and resources.  Compliance with environmental laws / regulations and the acquisition of the necessary permits for a proposed project in riverine environments requires a comprehensive constraint analysis and compliance strategy.  The process that I employ/recommend to acquire all of the permits necessary for a project involves the following steps:

1.    Identify all environmental laws and regulations applicable to the proposed project.

2.    Review those environmental laws and regulations to identify constraints and likely conditions of approval that would affect the proposed project.

3.    Develop a strategy to integrate compliance with environmental laws, regulations, and the acquisition of all permits and authorizations necessary to implement all phases of the project.

4.   Coordinate compliance with all environmental laws/regulations and the acquisition of all permits required.