Ventura County Qualified Biologist Program
The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires Ventura County to conduct an environmental review that identifies the potentially significant impacts of a project on the environment. When this is required, the environmental review must follow the Initial Study Assessment Guidelines (ISAGS) that was adopted by the Board of Supervisors. The biological resources section of the ISAGS instructs when an approved Qualified Biological Consultant must conduct the field surveys and reports. The Planning Division requires that Qualified Biological Consultants who conduct field surveys, reports, restoration work, and restoration plans in fulfillment of County requirements have the appropriate training, experience and, skills. This webpage provides information for biological consultants regarding the Qualified Biologist Program.
The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and the County’s Local Coastal Program (LCP) require the Planning Division to conduct an environmental review for certain developments that may potentially significantly impact the environment or a sensitive coastal resource. When this is required, the environmental review must follow the requirements outlined in the Initial Study Assessment Guidelines (ISAGS) or the Coastal Initial Biological Assessment. The biological resources sections of the ISAGS or the Environmentally Sensitive Habitat Areas (ESHA) of the LCP requires an approved Qualified Biologist or Restoration Specialist to have the appropriate training, experience, and skills before they can prepare or conduct any field surveys, reports, restoration work, or restoration plan for an applicant. This webpage provides information for biological consultants who are interested in submitting their qualifications to the Planning Division to be screened for the approved Qualified Biologist Program.
The webpage is organized as follows:
List of Approved Ventura County Qualified Biological Consultants
The lists provided through the links below include all biologists who have executed memorandums of understanding with the County of Ventura’s Planning Division. The lists also detail what types of projects these biological consultants are qualified to work on. Note, only these names listed below are qualified to work on projects in the unincorporated County of Ventura. Biologists that complete work and are not included on this qualified list may have the work product rejected by the Planning Division and that work will have to be redone with a qualified biological consultant approved by the Planning Division.
The following links are all Approved Qualified Biologists and Restoration Specialists for the County of Ventura. The lists are also shown on the Applicant webpage. If you would like to be included on the list as a Qualified Biologist, please refer to the section “Updates to Biologist Contact Information” below:
Important Announcements and Advisory Notices for Approved Biologists and Restoration Specialists
COASTAL ZONE: APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS HAVE CHANGED FOR INITIAL PROJECT SITING AND BIOLOGICAL ASSESSMENTS FOR ALL PROPOSED DEVELOPMENT IN THE COASTAL ZONE OF THE SANTA MONICA MOUNTAINS, NORTH COUNTY LANDWARD OF THE 101 FREEWAY, AND OTHER AREAS OUTSIDE ESTABLISHED COASTAL COMMUNITIES.
For other areas of the Coastal Zone, please refer to Coastal Zoning Ordinance (CZO) Section 8178-2.2 for the applicability of these regulations to your project.
Biological assessments prepared by County-approved biologists must meet all new Coastal Initial Study Biological Assessment (CISBA) standards (Sec. AE-1.3) in Coastal Zoning Ordinance Appendix E1– Site-Specific Environmental Assessments for Environmentally Sensitive Habitat Areas (ESHA). In addition, a least damaging alternatives analysis (CZO Sections 8178-2.3 (b) and 8178-2.6.1) must be conducted for siting the building site (based upon the results of the CISBA).
NON-COASTAL ZONE: If you are a County-approved biologist preparing an Initial Study Biological Assessment (ISBA), you must use the Planning Division’s report template below.
DUE TO THE HIGH NUMBER OF SUBMITTALS, AS OF MAY 15, 2024, THE PLANNING DIVISION WILL NO LONGER BE ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS FOR NEW QUALIFIED BIOLOGISTS UNTIL THE NEXT OPEN ENROLLMENT PERIOD IN SPRING OF 2025.
- Applications for new qualified restoration specialists will still be accepted on a rolling basis throughout the year.
- Existing biologists that have pending projects and need to provide updated certifications or experience to the program may do so directly through the program manager contact information at the bottom of this page.
Application Submittal Requirements for Qualified Biologist Program
Step One. To be on the Planning Division’s List of Qualified Biological Consultants, you must meet the following requirements in Section E of the document in the link below:
Step Two. Fill out the following Statement of Qualifications form.
- Form for New Restoration Specialist: https://forms.office.com/g/k2MCaM2brv
Step Three. Once you have completed the Statement of Qualifications form, please email the Program Manager Abigail Convery the following materials:
- A completed resume template sheet. This template should be filled out with your experience and contain the following details: project names, locations, specific dates worked on project, and specific job activities that correspond to the minimum qualifications’ fields (e.g., report writing, types of field surveys conducted (survey type, species groups), restoration work–plant alliance, report authorship, restoration implementation activities, monitoring, etc.). Refer to the resume template example to assist with completing your resume template.
- A signed Memorandum of Understanding Agreement (MOU) (download from link)
- Copy of any CNDDB Field Form Submitted to CDFW (Receipt of submission can be queried from biologist account with CNDBB. at https://wildlife.ca.gov/Data/CNDDB/Submitting-Data)
- Other certifications, collection permits, etc. obtained since last list update. Include Provider, Certification #, Topics/Species, Issue/Expiration dates, location, etc. Email to QB program manager at link provided below any copies of the documentation associated with current certifications, agency collection permits, etc. referenced in response to the online form questions.
- Receipt of current CNDDB subscription for your company (submitted by company lead contact) – click for example receipt. DO NOT CONTACT CDFW FOR COPY OF YOUR RECIEPT. Please contact Program Manager (above) if you have questions.
- Receipt from GIS software license (Required for firms with less than 10 biologists. Submitted by company lead contact. If the firm uses an outside GIS consultant, please provide a copy of master contract with consultant who provides GIS services to your firm).
IMPORTANT ADVISORY for CNDDB Field Form Submitted to CDFW (#3 above)- If you do not have any field submission forms on record with the CNDDB, please talk to the Program Lead about meeting this requirement through alternative means. Providing new records with submissions to the CNDDB list that begin within 1-2 months of your application, where no submissions have previously been filed will not be accepted. The purpose of this CNDDB criteria is to ensure that County Sensitive Species are being tracked.
Updates to Qualified Biological Consultant Contact Information
If you are an approved Qualified Biologist and have any updates for contact information or employer changes, please contact the email or phone number below and send the updated information. The list of Qualified Biological Consultants will be updated within one week of the date the notification and adequate information is received by the Planning Division.
For questions regarding the County’s Qualified Biologist Program, please contact Abigail Convery, Qualified Biologist Program lead at abigail.convery@ventura.org or 805-654-2834.
For questions regarding a specific ISBA for a permit application, please contact the permit case planner assigned to the project.
Contact Us
Abigail Convery
Qualified Biologist Program Lead
abigail.convery@ventura.org
(805) 654-2489
