IPaC Associates founder Michael Horton is an Endangered Species Act and landscape conservation planning expert with more than 25 years of experience working for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at the field, regional, and headquarters office levels. He brings a high degree of regulatory and technical expertise, a background in impact assessment, and skill in complex and creative environmental problem-solving and conflict resolution. During his time with the Service he served as the first Habitat Conservation Plan Coordinator for northern California, the northeast region’s Habitat Restoration Coordinator, the National Section 7 Consultation Coordinator, and the first National IPaC Program Coordinator where he led the creation of the Service’s Information, Planning, and Conservation (IPaC) decision support system. During this work Michael was guided by the philosophy that regulatory consultation should be a collaborative partnership, helping involved parties work together toward shared solutions. Michael continues to advance this philosophy through client projects at IPaC Associates.

Expertise:

• Landscape conservation planning

• Local, and national scale impact assessment methods, metrics and program development

• Conservation measure development for avoiding, minimizing, and mitigating species impacts

• Environmental conflict resolution and creative solution development

• Environmental law and regulatory advice and counsel

• Sensitive species conservation planning and implementation

• Program integration and streamlining process development

Leadership:

• Multi-stakeholder landscape planning

• Large-scale program development

• Strategic solution development meeting the needs of all affected parties

• Integration of species conservation with the needs of local communities

• Development of creative solutions for meeting legal and regulatory requirements

• Integration of conservation, social, and political needs in solution development

• Partnership creation to bring divergent views into alignment and facilitate conflict resolution

Management:

• Multi-million-dollar budgets

• National programs

• National outreach efforts

• Computer system development teams

• Conservation banking programs

• Programmatic development programs

Regulations Including:

• Endangered Species Act

• National Environmental Policy Act

• Clean Water Act

• Natural Resources Damages Act

• Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act

• State and local environmental laws

Federal Agencies Including:

• U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

• National Marine Fisheries Service

• U.S. Forest Service

• Bureau of Land Management

• Environmental Protection Agency

• U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

• U.S. Coast Guard

• Natural Resources Conservation Service

• Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

Markets Including:

• Threatened and Endangered species

• Biodiversity and habitats

• Production lands (timber, range, farm)

• Water quality & quantity

• Wetlands

• Coastal environments

• Agriculture

• Environment

• Energy

• Transportation

• Development

• Community planning