Esa brings nearly 20 years of experience working in private consulting, with the last four years focused on supporting utility scale renewable energy projects in the West. Her early professional roots were formed supporting large-scale wetland restoration projects in California, where she gained experience in navigating complex state and federal regulatory and permitting processes. Since then, she has been involved in a wide range of projects during all phases—providing pre-project due diligence and ecological baseline condition assessment services, assisting with environmental permitting and planning, construction oversight, post-project monitoring, and overseeing environmental compliance of constructed projects. Esa has worked with numerous federal agencies, including the Bureau of Land Management, Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, and U.S. Forest Service, acting as a federal contractor and client liaison.
Esa is a Professional Wetland Scientist, holds a Functional Assessment of Colorado Wetlands (FACWet) Certification, and has completed numerous programs including EPA Wetland Inspector in Training, Colorado Stream Quantification Tool (CSQT) training, and California Rapid Assessment Method (CRAM) Wetland Training. She is a member of the Society of Wetland Scientists.
She has supported environmental reviews under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and has assisted clients in obtaining permits and authorizations from numerous state and federal agencies, including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Colorado Department of Health and Environment, Nevada Department of Environmental Protection, and the California Regional Water Boards. Esa also has extensive experience assisting clients in navigating compensatory mitigation requirements.
