When I’m not wearing my Directorate Fellow Program (DFP) hat, the other professional hat I wear is as Project Manager for a land trust. My responsibilities at the land trust are varied, but one of my main roles is associated with the stewardship and conservation of 195 acres of coastal property. Our goal is to stewards these lands utilizing multiple-use land management strategies that create areas of co-existence for wildlife, livestock, and humans.

Sometimes that looks like making sure cattle are out in the pasture at appropriate times of the year, other times it means providing environmental education for K-12 students, and sometimes it means conducting habitat restoration for special status aquatic species (think juvenile coho salmon).

Habitat restoration can be a big undertaking, there are often countless hours of project planning and coordination that must be done before the project is “shovel ready”. Depending on the type of work, a significant component of project planning may include regulatory processes, yes, I’ll say it - permits!

To put my figurative DFP hat back on, my DFP experience is focused on support for the control of non-native aquatic species in the Southwest and has largely been split into two tasks. The first, was an assessment of nomenclature and definitions for a range of introduced aquatic species in Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, and Utah. The second is the development of an interactive online tool that can help practitioners navigate regulatory needs while planning for control of non-native or invasive aquatics.

This tool can be used by project managers to better understand which permits and regulatory processes may be relevant for their project while providing general resources for each permit and average lengths of time for each permit process. To view the website, head over to: https://dfp188846883.wordpress.com/.

When I first thought about regulatory aspects of my DFP tasks, I’ll be honest, it seemed daunting! Permits have always seemed like a long, arduous (and complicated) process that require significant time and resources. It was always an aspects of habitat restoration, and the environmental field more broadly, where I felt I lacked the knowledge and ability to be successful.

However, through my DFP experience I’ve learned about the federal environmental permitting process (and I’ll be the first to admit I’m still a total novice). I now have a better understanding of the environmental permitting and regulatory process. For example, I learned that many environmental permits are tied to legislative acts such as NEPA or the, National Environmental Policy Act. NEPA was the first major environmental law in the United States. NEPA ensures agencies consider the significant environmental consequences of their proposed actions and inform the public about their decision making.

While I still have a lot to learn, I have reflected on the last several weeks and I can say with certainty that the world of permits has become somewhat demystified. I feel more confident in my understanding of the framework of permits and more equipped to apply for environmental permits in the future.

Agency: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Program: US Fish & Wildlife Service - DFP

Location: Tucson Ecological Services Field Office