Biological consulting that keeps projects moving and habitats protected.
Biological Consulting Firm
Monk & Associates provides science-based biological consulting services for public and private projects throughout Northern California. We support clients through every phase of the regulatory process, from field surveys and permitting to compliance and mitigation monitoring.
Our Mission
There are hundreds of biological consulting firms to choose from. Clients choose Monk & Associates because we are problem solvers with integrity.
We work collaboratively with our clients and regulatory agencies to find practical solutions that work for all parties involved. We do not attempt to avoid biological constraints or hope they will be overlooked. Instead, we rely on our knowledge, experience, and technical expertise to resolve issues and obtain the permits necessary to move projects forward.
Our team has completed, and continues to complete, projects throughout the Santa Rosa Plain, the Central Valley, and all nine Bay Area counties.
Biological Surveys & Monitoring
M&A prepares baseline conditions reports and conducts biological monitoring and reporting, as well as compliance construction monitoring, with Qualified Biologists and/or Construction Monitors. M&A biologists specialize in avian, amphibian, mammalian, and vernal pool invertebrate survey work and hold all necessary Federal authorizations/permits and qualifications to conduct surveys special-status wildlife and plant surveys
Ralph Preserve
habitat monitoring
CA tiger salamander
larval survey
Botanizing,
Alameda County, CA
Fairy shrimp dip-netting, Contra Costa County, CA
12th Street Bridge fish salvage,
Oakland, CA
California red-legged frog dip-netting, San Joaquin County
Fairy shrimp dip-netting, Doolan Preserve, Alameda County, CA
Vegetation
mapping
Rare plant population
assessment
Raptor nest monitoring,
Stanislaus County, CA
Butterfly on native vegetation and observed in natural habitat
Field survey in natural habitat, Stanislaus County, CA
Field team conducting
ecological survey
Biologist safely handling a turtle during field monitoring
Our Team
Monk & Associates has a team of Staff, Project, and Senior Biologists who provide applicants with comprehensive biological permitting and regulatory support.
Principal Biologist
Ms. Lynch has been with Monk & Associates since its inception and assists clients by identifying and resolving potential biological constraints associated with their projects. She prepares permitting packages for submittal to local, state, and federal resource agencies and assists with mitigation negotiations. Her experience includes wildlife biology, botany, wetlands ecology and delineation, and threatened and endangered species surveys. Her technical expertise includes amphibian and fairy shrimp surveys, rare plant surveys, bird censusing, small mammal trapping, multiparameter wetland assessments, mitigation monitoring, and biological constraints and impact analysis pursuant to CEQA.
Associate Biologist
Ms. Owens has been with Monk & Associates since 2012. A botanist by education and training, she has extensive experience conducting botanical surveys and wetland delineations. She prepares permit application packages for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, California Regional Water Quality Control Board, and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. Ms. Owens also prepares biological resource analyses, Section 404 and 401 alternative analyses, special-status plant mitigation and monitoring plans, weed management plans, mitigation monitoring plans, and riparian enhancement plans. She has constructed and monitored seasonal wetland habitats until success criteria were achieved.
Senior Biologist
Ms. McNamara is a biologist with over 10 years’ experience studying natural habitats and their inhabitants to evaluate biodiversity and ecological interactions across multiple scopes. In her time as a biologist with Monk & Associates, Ms. McNamara has participated in multiple dipnet surveys for California tiger salamander larvae, western spadefoot toad larvae, California red-legged frog tadpoles, vernal pool fairy shrimp and vernal pool tadpole shrimp, successfully detecting all species. In addition, Ms. McNamara has found and monitored nests of protected raptor species such as Swainson’s Hawk, White-tailed Kite, and Western Burrowing Owl. She has completed multiple surveys for western pond turtle with detections. She has also conducted dozens of rare plant surveys in the greater Bay Area and the Central Valley. Ms. McNamara is a capable wetland delineator and assists M&A’s senior staff with the preparation of permit applications for Clean Water Act Section 404 and 401 permits. She also prepares Streambed Alteration Agreement applications pursuant to Section 1602 of the California Fish and Game Code. She has been with M&A since 2021.
Project Biologist I
Ms. Pascetto is a biologist with substantial experience studying birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians, their natural habitats and impacts due to human disturbance. She has experience performing wildlife and vegetation surveys in wetlands, meadows, forests, grasslands, woodlands, and human-disturbed areas. Her broad range of survey experience has included habitat assessments through vegetation identification and population studies by conducting coverboard surveys, mark-recapture studies, camera trapping, nesting bird, and point-count surveys. Ms. Pascetto is proficient with California plant and wildlife species identification and has worked with species listed under the California Endangered Species Act. She prepares Biological Resources Analyses, biology reports for SB9 projects, and annual reports for mitigation monitoring projects. She has been with M&A since 2023.
Office Manager
Mr. Milliken has been the Office Manager since 2002. Initially his duties included daily bookkeeping duties, processing payroll, and general office responsibilities. With his previous computer experience, Mr. Milliken took over graphics production using ESRI ArcView, and later its successor, ArcMap. Mr. Milliken currently manages the day-to-day IT responsibilities of the computer infrastructure, manages the medical/dental/vision plans of employees, and manages the 401K plan. Mr. Milliken is still responsible for the daily operations of the running of the Monk & Associates’ office, bookkeeping (accounts payable, accounts receivable, payroll), graphics production, and for training staff on office policies/procedures as well as assisting staff with graphics production.
M&A’s additional staff has the qualities that make M&A’s work successful. While M&A’s staff has different specializations (e.g., botany, herpetology, ornithology, wetlands), each member of our company has a working knowledge of the State and Federal regulatory processes and all relevant biological resources that might be encountered. This results in every survey/site visit being able to fulfill multiple functions (e.g., wetland delineation, plant survey and nesting bird survey in one survey) and identify issues/jurisdictions pertaining to multiple resource agencies with a minimum of staff and a high degree of detail/accuracy/applicability. Based on our multi-disciplinary capabilities, we are a highly qualified and successful biological resources team. M&A has the capacity to meet schedules, including undertaking projects with short notice and time constraints, as M&A staff are capable in a variety of disciplines and flexible to the needs at hand.
Certifications & Authorizations
Let’s Talk About Your Project
Get expert biological consulting support for surveys, permitting, and compliance across Northern California.
