Certifications & Experience

Our trained ecologists and biologists hold various certifications and permits, and have extensive experience with a wide variety of special status species.

The Live Oak Associates team is experienced working in a variety of environmental settings – terrestrial, urban, aquatic, riparian and coastal. Our team includes specialists in aquatic and terrestrial ecology, mammalogy, herpetology, ornithology and more.

Certifications and Special Status Species Permits

  • Endangered Species Act 10(a)(1)(A) Recovery Permits and/or California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) Scientific Collecting Permits for:

    • Vernal pool branchiopods (Conservancy fairy shrimp, longhorn fairy shrimp, Riverside fairy shrimp, San Diego fairy shrimp, vernal pool fairy shrimp, and vernal pool tadpole shrimp)

    • California tiger salamander

  • CDFW Plant Voucher Collecting Permit

  • International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) Certified Arborist and ISA Tree Risk Assessment Qualification

  • California Rapid Assessment Method (CRAM) trained practitioners (Riverine and Perennial Estuarine modules)


Special Status Species Experience

Endangered, Threatened, Protected, Special Concern, Rare & Proposed

  • Common Name (Scientific Name)

    • Vernal pool branchiopods (fairy shrimp) including Conservancy fairy shrimp (Branchinecta conservatio),
    vernal pool fairy shrimp (Branchinecta lynchi), and vernal pool tadpole shrimp (Lepidurus packardi)

    • Valley elderberry longhorn beetle (VELB) (Desmocerus californicus dimorphus)

    • San Bruno elfin butterfly (Callophrys mossii bayensis)

    • Bay checkerspot butterfly (Euphydryas editha bayensis)

    • Mission blue butterfly (Plebejus icariodes missionensis)

    • Callippe silverspot butterfly (Speyeria callippe callippe)

    • California tiger salamander (Ambystoma californiense)

    • Foothill yellow-legged frog (Rana boylii)

    • California red-legged frog (Rana draytonii)

    • Desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii)

    • Blunt-nosed leopard lizard (Gambelia sila)

    • Alameda whipsnake (Masticophis lateralis euryxanthus)

    • Giant garter snake (Thamnophis gigas)

    • California condor (Gymnogyps californianus)

    • Swainson’s hawk (Buteo swainsoni)

    • Bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus)

    • Burrowing owl (Athene cunicularia)

    • Buena vista lake shrew (Sorex ornatus relictus)

    • Nelson’s (San Joaquin) antelope squirrel (Ammospermophilus nelsoni)

    • Giant kangaroo rat (Dipodomys ingens)

    • Tipton kangaroo rat (Dipodomys nitratoides nitratoides)

    • Salt-marsh harvest mouse (Reithrodontomys raviventris)

    • San Joaquin kit fox (Vulpes macrotis mutica)

    • Fisher (Pekania Pennanti)

    • And many others

  • • Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha)

    • Coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch)

    • Delta smelt (Hypomesus transpacificus)

    • Eulachon (or candlefish; Thaleichthys pacificus)

    • Longfin smelt (Spirinchus thaleichthys)

    • Pacific lamprey (Entosphenus tridentatus)

    • Santa Ana sucker (Catostomus santaanae)

    • Steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss irideus)

    • Unarmored threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus williamsoni)

    • White sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus)

    • And many others

  • Serpentine plants

    • Santa Clara thorn mint (Acanthomintha lanceolata)

    • Mt. Hamilton thistle (Cirsium fontinale var. campylon)

    • Santa Clara Valley dudleya (Dudleya setchellii)

    • Fragrant fritillary (Fritillaria liliacea)

    • Serpentine leptosiphon (Leptosiphon ambiguus)

    • Smooth lessingia (Lessingia micradenia var. glabrata)

    • Most beautiful jewelflower (Streptanthus albidus ssp. peramoenus)

    • And many others

    Wetland and vernal pool plants

    • Succulent owl's clover (Castilleja campestris ssp. succulenta)

    • Dwarf downingia (Downingia pusilla)

    • Hoover’s button celery (Eryngium aristulatum var. hooveri)

    • Spiny-sepaled button celery (Eryngium spinosepalum)

    • Contra Costa goldfields (Lasthenia conjugens)

    • Munz’s tidy-tips (Layia munzii)

    • Colusa grass (Neostapfia colusana)

    • San Joaquin Valley Orcutt grass (Orcuttia inaequalis)

    • Sanford’s arrowhead (Sagittaria sanfordii)

    • And many others

    Other rare plants

    • San Francisco onion (Allium peninsulare var. franciscanum)

    • Brittlescale (Atriplex depressa)

    • Congdon's tarplant (Centromadia parryi ssp. congdonii)

    • Recurved larkspur (Delphinium recurvatum)

    • San Joaquin spearscale (Extriplex joaquinana)

    • Hartweg's golden sunburst (Pseudobahia bahiifolia)

    • San Joaquin woolythread (Monolopia congdonii)

    • Kern mallow (Eremalche parryi ssp. kernensis)

    • Madera leptosiphon (Leptosiphon serrulatus)

    • And many others

Live Oak Associates, Inc. is a California Certified Small Business.