The Michigan Agriculture Environmental Assurance Program (MAEAP) is an innovative, proactive program that helps farms of all sizes and all commodities voluntarily prevent or minimize agricultural pollution risks. MAEAP‘s mission is to develop and implement a proactive environmental assurance program ensuring that Michigan farmers are engaging in cost-effective pollution prevention practices and working to comply with state and federal environmental regulations.

• Oversee diverse projects and business development, fostering and fortifying strategic partnerships with prospective and existing clientele. • Key contributor to environmental research, bio assessments, and projects involving endangered species such as raptors and eagles.• Instrumental to project staffing, budget tracking, field work, and coordination with agencies and clients.• Reaching out to existing and past prospective clients setting up meetings educating and promoting• Designed and implemented new regulated processes, lead system, and marketing strategy.

• Spearheaded numerous development projects across southern California, including large scale tracking programs for federally threatened California gnatcatcher for oil and gas production clients and desert tortoise surveys in Mojave Desert. • Instrumental to utility sector, contributing to SCE’s El Casco project, mapping sensitive plants, nests, and burrows in surrounding substation site as well as wildlife surveys and construction monitoring of earth and line work. • Coordinated ongoing work throughout life of projects and monitoring requirements at each site.• Conducted and supervised breeding and clearance surveys for burrowing owl, nesting birds, and raptors as well as mitigation site monitoring and passive relocation of burrowing owls. • Hands on leader, safely operating construction equipment in the field, including mowers, scrapers, blades, front loaders, excavators, backhoes, water trucks, graders, and hand crews. • Tracked and documented avoidance of burrowing owl as well as nesting bird compliance..--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

• Served as acting Director of Operations and Senior Biologist, leading regional project management. • Primary point of contact for biology, restoration ecology, and CEQA issues related to projects of various sizes across both public and private sectors.• Selected projects included oversight of oil release in riparian corridor in eastern LA, survey for potential mitigation banking site adjacent to Chino Hills State Park to preserve coastal sage scrub, riparian forest, southern California Black Walnut, California gnatcatcher, and least Bell’s vireo, as well as site survey of current and prospective communications towers, wind, solar, and transmission lines.• Supervised environmental construction of substations and utility corridors, tracking SWPPPs, air quality, noise, and general environmental mitigation components. • Led pre-NTP, construction clearance, and daily bio sweep surveys for all resources, including least Bell’s vireo, nesting birds, raptor nests, herps, mammals such as woodrat middens, and plants like smooth tarplant and Plummer’s mariposa lily. • Documented resource avoidance, establishing proactive buffers around each resource based on local construction zones.

• Directed projects, field study, and GIS data analysis employing ArcGIS across southern California. • Steered complex field operations, including conversion and revegetation of 480-acre oil field, non-native tree mapping, construction monitoring, as well as identification of extent and location of ruderal vegetation. • Ensured comprehensive alignment with project requirements daily, including erosion control measures, spill prevention, air and water quality, noise and biological tracking, as well as liaison with numerous agencies, consultants, and contractors.

Conducted a protocal level research and monitoring project on the endangered southwestern willow flycatcher along the Colorado River and tributaries in Arizona and southern California. Surveyed birds by the use of playback, determined breeding status, nest searched, re-sighted color-banded birds, and mist netted and banded flycatchers. Mr. Bates maintained site descriptions of all study sites visited throughout the field season and a percent cover vegetation analysis from each study sight. HOBO microclimate data loggers were installed and maintained at each study sight, and downloaded at the end of the survey season.

Responsible for collection of all field data through conducting surveys for fawn, pond management, and stream aquatic environments.Assisted in the development of the Raccoon and Canada Goose management program, including conducting field audits.Conducted site evaluations using point surveys to determine the biological diversity of donated or purchasable lands. Other duties included: succession mowing, thicket removal, and prairie restoration.Managed Lepidoptera database to track all species discovered within the park district, and the location of its discovery.