NWC’s Role in Wildlife Protection in Coastal Restoration

While essential to the protection of the protection of cities, oil and gas infrastructure, shipping and natural resource production, the restoration of Louisiana’s coast and wetlands also brings great benefits to the wildlife protection of the state. NWC recognizes that not only does it have the regulatory responsibility to protect threatened and endangered species under ESA, and nesting birds under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, but also important foraging and roosting areas for wildlife. Norman Wildlife Consulting LLC (NWC), a registered Louisiana business, has the planning skills and the knowledge of these resources and the capability of preparing abatement and monitoring plans to prevent project delays and lost productivity of important wildlife resources. Donald Norman, the owner of NWC has a thorough knowledge of the wildlife of Louisiana, being a native and long standing member of the ornithological community here. NWC has been in the field monitoring listed species, and understands the importance of empirical evidence in addressing wildlife issues. NWC has an understanding of wildlife life history, recent changes in distribution and abundance of species, and works with researchers on assessing important gaps in our knowledge about wildlife protection in the state. NWC has been involved in and understands the concepts of the North American Bird Conservation Initiative (NABCI) and has been active in the implementation through Partners in Flight and local Joint Ventures. NWC has extensive consulting experience with disturbance monitoring and organizing bird abatement for a wide variety of situations. With additional background in ecology, sediment toxicology and oceanography, he can assist in integrating bird abatement into project planning and field operations. NWC is a “field-based” company, and brings the capability to address complex wildlife problems with hands-on experience. As a federally and state licensed bird bander, Donald has worked closely with BTNEP and Audubon of Louisiana on building a data set on beach nesting birds to measure the success of beach nourishment projects. This approach will provide clients and government over site with the data necessary to demonstrate the success of its projects.