Quantitative Natural Resource Problem Solving

Natural resource managers must balance legal, social, economic, and biological issues to create strategies to meet biological objectives. Biological objectives may range from recovery or management of single species to more complex management of communities and ecosystems. Social goals may be to perpetuate or restore an endangered species or to manage or expand commercial, sport, or incidental use to directly or indirectly meet the needs of a changing society. Increasingly the legal system requires quantitative or in-depth qualitative assessments of these issues.

The ICF Ecosystem Biometrics Practice provides clients with quantitative tools, analyses and applications to meet the complex and sometimes stringent legal and scientific needs of 21st century natural resource management. We combine in-depth biological and ecological knowledge with mathematics, computer modeling, software development and data management to create quantitative tools that facilitate a collaborative, scientific approach that works and will withstand legal and scientific scrutiny.

Our team of scientists, mathematicians, and software developers has experience world-wide in virtually every biome bringing creative and efficient solutions to today’s freshwater, marine, and terrestrial natural resource projects.

Tools

• Watershed examination tools
• Ecosystem Diagnosis & Treatment
• Qualitative Habitat Assessment
• Hatchery Analysis Tool (AHA)
• Wildlife information framework

Analyses

• Analytical models
• Species-habitat relationships
• Population viability and risk assessments
• Decision support frameworks
• Synthesis of available knowledge
• Linkage of available knowledge to goals
• Technical support to watershed planning and species recovery
• Facilitation of scientific discussions
• Development and application of tools to support planning
• Technical consultation on biological and ecological issues

Applications

• Watershed assessment fish species recovery plans in numerous watersheds throughout the West
• Development of concepts and tools for evaluation of fish hatcheries and inclusion in ESA fish recovery in Puget Sound, the Columbia Basin and the California Central Valley
• Assessment of take and mitigation of fish species and the development of Habitat Conservation Plans in Washington, Oregon and California
• Evaluation of impacts of development on fish species in the Pascagoula River, Mississippi
• Assessment of wind power projects on bird and bat species in the Altamont Wind Power Project
• Development of a nation-wide framework for assessment of wind power impacts on birds and bats—Department of Energy