Amigo Environmental, LLC

??Amigo Environmental, LLC is thrilled to welcome four new Amigos to our crew! For a small business like ours, growth is not just a metric, it’s a statement. It reflects our resilience, marks progress toward a mission that we believe in deeply, and reminds us that when values lead, meaningful connections follow. We are privileged to welcome these four new team members who share the spirit, purpose, and values that drive our work forward. Morgan Haag is an ecologist and biologist with almost 4 years of experience on projects that span the country from Maine to California. Aviva Saadatfar is a wildlife biologist and member of The Wildlife Society with over four years of biological field experience. She has conducted over 1,000 hours of surveys for special-status plant and avian species. Krysten Martin is a biologist with almost 5 years of experience working with state, federal, and private agencies. She has considerable coastal zone experience on Catalina Island and the Santa Monica Mountains. Candice Berry is a biologist, waters surveyor and monitor, field coordinator with extensive experience on Operations and Maintenance programs for a major southern California public utility. Interested in becoming one of our Amigos? You can find open opportunities and affiliate information on our Careers Page: https://lnkd.in/gSajQ4iy

In 2024, Californians faced over 8,000 wildfires that burned approximately 1.05 million acres. Some of these fires were natural events, a part of living in a state with many fire-adapted vegetation communities. But some were large-scale and devastating, wiping out near-pristine climax vegetation communities, damaging infrastructure, and burning soil away to ash. This Story Map of the 2024 Line Fire is part of our story and the story of California. Amigo Environmental, LLC worked with Riverside Construction Company, Inc. and Caltrans to assess the impacts to infrastructure and waterways along State Route-330 in support of emergency repair work. After large-scale fires, there are so many different things to worry about. The people affected, the homes lost, the human infrastructure and natural habitat destroyed, and the waterways stripped of their vegetation and filled with ash. All these challenges must be addressed in tandem in the wake of a wildfire. We hope this story can provide a little more insight on fire ecology and how at least one state agency must respond to these events to ensure that infrastructure and downstream waterways are protected from the impacts of fires. We live in times where fires like these are becoming more common. The recent fires of 2025 have touched the Amigo community with friends, colleagues, and clients having lost their homes. We continue to hold them in our thoughts and do what we can to help them and all those affected by the fires. Line Fire Story Map: https://arcg.is/0rLL5O

?? Shout out to the birders, biologists, and citizen scientists that make the annual Christmas Bird Count for the National Audubon Society possible. This long-term dataset, which collects information on species and individual bird counts throughout North America at the end of each year, is vitally important in assessing trends for species, identifying bird hot spots for preservation and restoration, and helping to assess the status of known migration corridors. ?? At the end of 2024, the Amigo Environmental, LLC team took part in this effort with our families and a former colleague for the SEA & SAGE AUDUBON SOCIETY. Check out the slideshow below to see more about our survey walk at Trabuco Ranch Adobe in Rancho Santa Margarita. #birding #audubon #ChristmasBirdCount

Our hearts go out to those affected by the multiple fires ravaging southern California. Several of Amigo’s staff, colleagues, and clients live in proximity to the active fire areas in Los Angeles County, and we continue to monitor the dynamic situation including evacuation warnings and orders.???? ? We urge everyone to prepare a disaster emergency plan and kit for their household (including pets and livestock), to heed evacuation warnings and orders, and to consider donating (if able) to one of the many groups serving firefighters and fire victims in southern California. The CalFire Incidents website provides information on all of the ongoing fires, evacuation warnings and orders, shelter locations, and resources to assist those affected by these fires. https://lnkd.in/gaD2Ksk6

From our family to yours, Amigo Environmental, LLC wishes everyone a warm and happy holiday season and start to 2025. May next year bring more joys and triumphs than challenges, more light than darkness, and more peace and fewer troubles than days gone by. ??

?? Amigo Environmental, LLC: Speaking for the Trees ?? Thanks to PowerFlex, Amigo recently had the opportunity to conduct arboricultural surveys, monitoring, and reporting for the installation of 40 EV charging stations in Los Angeles. The installation required trenching within the critical root zones (driplines) of five New Zealand Christmas trees (Metrosideros excelsa). Amigo designed, implemented, and oversaw tree protection measures to preserve these mature trees, which provide wildlife habitat, shade, and act as a visual screen along a major thoroughfare. Joshua Zinn was Amigo’s qualified arborist for this important assignment. Joshua has been an International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) Certified? Arborist continually since 1995 and has held an ISA Tree Risk Assessment Qualification (TRAQ) continually since 2013. Mr. Zinn has nearly 30 years of comprehensive experience in arboricultural resources and urban forestry consulting for public, private, and institutional clients and is able to provide the following services: - ISA Certified Arborist Reports - Tree Protection Plans and Construction Monitoring - Tree Surveys and Inventories - Tree Removal Permit Packages (private and public applicants) - Tree Health and Hazard Assessments - Tree Disease Diagnosis and Treatment - Oak Woodlands Mitigation (PRC 21083.4) - Wildland-Urban Interface Risk and Hazard Evaluation Assessments - Fuel Load Reduction and Firewise Planting - PRC 4293 Surveys and Vegetation Inventories - Pre- and Post-Casualty Tree Appraisals - Expert Witness Amigo is committed to protecting vital arboriculture resources while supporting the development and delivery of renewable and sustainable energy. PowerFlex is a clean technology solutions company making the transition to carbon-free energy possible and we are thrilled for the opportunity to partner with them to deliver more EV charging stations in Los Angeles County. #arborist #riskassessment #trees #renewableenergy #evcharging #losangeles

?? Amigo Environmental, LLC has spent the past two months in whitebark pine surveying mode!?? Thanks to our partnership with ERM, Amigo had the opportunity to survey over 840 locations for whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis), a federally threatened species, throughout the eastern Sierra Nevada mountains. The spread of non-native white pine blister rust has resulted in substantial mortality for the species. This disease, along with predation by native mountain pine beetle, changing climate, and the increase in large-scale, intense wildfires, all represent the biggest threats to this unique, high-elevation pine. Brent Parkins, Amigo’s qualified biologist and botanist for this important assignment, has over 12 years of experience and is approved by Inyo National Forest to conduct whitebark pine surveys on U.S. Forest Service lands. Brent's work through Amigo and in partnership with ERM is helping to identify where whitebark pine occur and ensure that public utilities avoid impacting them when completing work to mitigate wildfire risk. From the youngest seedlings to the oldest trees, protection of whitebark pine at the interface of the natural and built environment is vital to ensure this species survives and thrives well into the future. #whitebarkpine #biology #botany #landscapes #plants

?? Amigo Environmental, LLC has spent the past two months in whitebark pine surveying mode!?? Thanks to our partnership with ERM, Amigo had the opportunity to survey over 840 locations for whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis), a federally threatened species, throughout the eastern Sierra Nevada mountains. The spread of non-native white pine blister rust has resulted in substantial mortality for the species. This disease, along with predation by native mountain pine beetle, changing climate, and the increase in large-scale, intense wildfires, all represent the biggest threats to this unique, high-elevation pine. Brent Parkins, Amigo’s qualified biologist and botanist for this important assignment, has over 12 years of experience and is approved by Inyo National Forest to conduct whitebark pine surveys on U.S. Forest Service lands. Brent's work through Amigo and in partnership with ERM is helping to identify where whitebark pine occur and ensure that public utilities avoid impacting them when completing work to mitigate wildfire risk. From the youngest seedlings to the oldest trees, protection of whitebark pine at the interface of the natural and built environment is vital to ensure this species survives and thrives well into the future. #whitebarkpine #biology #botany #landscapes #plants

??Amigo Environmental, LLC is now a certified DBE for the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans)! You can find us on the California Unified Certification Program (CUCP) database. Caltrans is the state agency dedicated to providing a safe and reliable transportation network. Amigo is thrilled to have the opportunity to support Caltrans and their partners with the vital work they do for California's infrastructure. At Amigo, we are an interdisciplinary team of biologists, ecologists, and geospatial analysts. We offer biological assessments, jurisdictional waters delineations, permitting support for both wetland and biological resources, habitat mapping and restoration design, and pre- and post-construction surveys and monitoring. Our differentiators? Safety, client advocacy, and uncompromising quality in all our products. Amigo is dedicated to making sure our clients have the best products from us in a timely and safe manner that complies with all rules and regulations. We don't take shortcuts, we value our teams, the people we work with, and the work we produce. Message us on LinkedIn or reach out to our email at [email protected]. We are ready to be your partner for any and all Caltrans projects. Let's keep California moving together!??

???'Tis the season for Yosemite toads!?? ? Yosemite toad (Anaxyrus canorus) is one of the coolest federally threatened species we have in California. They are a sexually dimorphic amphibian where the males and females look substantially different. Males are a pale yellowish-green with a few dark blotches, whereas the females are predominantly dark blotches on a lighter brown background. These toads rely on wet meadows and ponds produced by spring snowmelt to reproduce. One of the biggest challenges this species faces is potential impacts from human interactions. ? To prevent injury to the toads from wildfire mitigation activities and ensure compliance with existing permits, Amigo's Brooke Fletcher organized and co-led a multi-day training workshop with Sierra National Forest’s Aquatics Biologist, Stephanie Barnes. This is Brooke’s third year coordinating Yosemite toad training sessions for biologists interested in becoming approved to work in sensitive toad habitat on Sierra National Forest. Special thanks to ERM, Southern California Edison (SCE), and Sierra National Forest for this TOAD-ally awesome experience! ? Brooke is a senior biologist and regulatory specialist with a keen eye for details and toad-spotting. Check out some of the amazing photos she took during the training! These efforts were negotiated and sanctioned by Forest Service personnel and have helped to ensure only the most qualified biologists are certified to conduct surveys and monitoring for Yosemite toad on Forest Service lands. ? Amigo Environmental, LLC is committed to protecting our natural resources safely and sensibly. This training and others like it will ensure the protection of California's Yosemite toad while our utility partners carry out the necessary work to prevent forest fires and protect the wild places we all know and love. PHOTO 1: Brooke Fletcher (Amigo) and Stephanie Barnes (SNF Aquatics) pointing out Yosemite toads in a breeding pool. PHOTO 2: Amplexed pair of Yosemite toads. PHOTO 3: Trilling male Yosemite toad. PHOTO 4: Upland Habitat Training. PHOTO 5: Group Photo after a long two days in the field. PHOTO 6: Bonus Sierra Nevada yellow-legged frog!