Mr. Furtado joined EMC Planning Group in 2020 and has over ten years of experience as a plant, wildlife, and wetland biologist. His ecological expertise extends across a wide range of California ecosystems including coastal dunes and beaches, fresh and salt water wetlands, riparian woodlands, grasslands, chaparral, oak woodlands, and conifer forests.

Mr. Furtado integrates multiple disciplines within his work including ornithology, herpetology, plant taxonomy, vegetation classification and mapping, remote sensing, GIS analysis, riparian and wetland hydrology, soil classification, and invasive plant species management. His work in California wetlands has focused on understanding how hydrology and soil properties interact with vegetation and applying this knowledge to the conservation of wetland and riparian habitat.

Mr. Furtado has conducted protocol-level field surveys and habitat assessments for many special-status plant and wildlife species including Monterey spineflower, Yadon’s rein orchid, western snowy plover, burrowing owl, bank swallow, mission blue butterfly, San Francisco garter snake, California giant salamander, San Joaquin kit fox, and San Francisco dusky-footed woodrat. He has been approved by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife as a qualified biologist for the evaluation of impacts for projects involving California red-legged frog and California tiger salamander.

Mr. Furtado possesses extensive experience with California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) environmental impact assessment and avoidance, minimization, and mitigation measures. He works on projects involving incidental take permits and habitat conservation plans, wetland delineation and permitting, streambed alteration agreements, habitat restoration, and sea level rise vulnerability assessment.

Mr. Furtado received a Bachelor of Science degree in Natural Resource Management from the University of California, Berkeley and a Master of Science degree in Conservation Biology from San Francisco State University. Patrick has been certified as a Professional Wetland Scientist (PWS #3041) by the Society of Wetland Scientists since 2019. He has also received extensive professional development training from the Jepson Herbarium, California Native Plant Society, Elkhorn Slough Coastal Training Program, San Francisco Bay Coastal Training Program, Laguna de Santa Rosa Foundation, and UC Davis Continuing and Professional Education Land Use and Natural Resources Program.