Advice for a Career in Wetland Consulting

The following message was posted on ECOLOG (an electronic mailing list) by a student.  Another reader posted a response that I thought was particularly helpful.  With the permission of both parties, I have reproduced the exchange here (links added). -- E. Pauley

Original message:

In May, I'll be graduating from Rutgers University with majors in Biology
and Natural Resource Management and a minor in marine science.  Ideally, I
would like to find a job with an environmental consulting firm that deals
with wetlands conservation and mitigation.  I have had field experience
working in salt marshes for the past two summers and some laboratory
experience with water chemistry and invertebrate identification.  I was
wondering if anyone could give me some advice on how I could get into this
field or what employers like this are looking for. Thank you.

Response:

I'll probably be repeating a lot of what you hear from others, but I'll
offer my two cents (I'm a wetland consultant and the PI of a project aimed
at creating wetlands for treating acid mine drainage).

To a degree, the qualifications desired by a consulting firm would
depend on the type of company and the other members on staff.  In essence,
small firms might have a single wetland person - or even a single
biologist who would handle wetlands as well as other tasks (rare species
investigations, vegetation analyses).  Large firms might have several
wetlands people who would each have their own complementary specialities.
Thus, you have the immediate dilemma faced by all organisms in nature: is
it best to be a specialist or a generalist?

Since it would be impossible to know which specific area a given large
firm might want, let me list the qualifications that a small firm might
want for a generalist-type person.

1.  Have the ability to delineate wetlands in the field.  That requires
you to:

a.  Have the ability to identify MANY vascular plants in the field, and
ALL plants by using a technical key (e.g., Britton and Brown).  Of
particular importance is the ability to key out (to species) grasses,
rushes, sedges, composites, and ferns.  Generally your ability to identify
species should include winter, as well as summer, characteristics.

b.  Have knowledge of soils, including the interpretation of soil colors,
presence of histic epipedons, and other clues like manganese
accumulations.

c.  Be able to accurately recognize hydrological indicators as stated in
the Army Corps manual.

d.  Have sufficient strength and stamina to work out in the field for
hours (in all kinds of weather), dig holes, blast through shrubby
vegetation, scramble over all kinds of terrain.  Anything beyond a normal,
healthy fear of critters that you might find in the field (spiders,
snakes, carnivores), would certainly be a hindrance.

2.  Be able to read maps, including topographic maps, National Wetland
Inventory maps (though take those with a grain of salt), and soils maps.

3.  Know the laws relating to wetlands.  Know the details of Section 404
of the Clean Water Act, including the types of activities covered and not
covered by the act.  Know the history of the legislation.  Know the state
and any local regulations pertaining to wetlands.  Understand federal and
state General Permits.

4.  Invariably, some projects will require encroachments into wetlands.
In that case, you would need to know how to conduct an environmental
assessment.  There are several assessment protocols available.  Knowledge
of them would be enormously helpful.  Most require you to be able to
assess wetland FUNCTIONS and VALUES.  To that end, you should be able to:

a.  Assess the biological importance of any wetland or watercourse.  Thus,
ability to assess habitat is important.  Also, be able to assess
macroinvertebrate communities, in terms of diversity, quality, and
function.

b.  Assess the effectiveness of a given wetland in cleaning up water,
through sediment trapping or removal of dissolved substances.

c.  Assess the hydrology of a given wetland, especially in terms of
discharge / recharge relationships and water retention ability.

d.  Know enough about construction techniques so that you can accurately
predict how any given development can impact all of the previous three
items.

d.  Assess, in a meaningful way, REGIONAL impacts of various construction
projects.

5.  Some knowledge of surveying and open-channel hydrology wouldn't hurt.
Some firms are getting into GIS and GPS in a big way - knowledge of those
technologies would be an advantage.

6.  Be able to write well.

7.  Be able to use various computer applications (I use word processing,
databases, and drawing programs extensively).

8.  Oral communication skills are extremely important.  You will need to
be able to effectively interact with a wide variety of clients (including
homeowners, executives, developers, farmers), people that you meet in the
field (some of whom will be sympathetic, others potentially antagonistic),
agency officials, and other professionals (surveyors, engineers).

9.  Above all, you need to be scrupulously honest, and have the ability to
learn / adapt quickly to new situations.

I hope this helps.  By the way, Rutgers offers lots of Continuing
Education courses in wetland delineation and assessment.  Taking as many
of those courses as possible is highly recommended.

Best wishes and good luck,

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