Lauren Salazar

Ecologist

Bio
Relevant Experience
Education & Credentials

Bio

Ms. Lauren Salazar is an ecologist and ornithologist based in Integral’s San Franciso Bay Area office with more than 5 years of professional experience and 10 years of additional volunteer and recreational experience in natural sciences, botany, water science, and environmental education. She has advanced visual and auditory bird identification skills and is experienced in understanding bird behavior. She has accumulated many years of valuable hands-on experience working as an assistant ecologist with endemic flora and fauna, as a water quality monitoring field assistant, and monitoring western bluebird nest boxes.

Ms. Salazar conducts surveys and monitoring for nesting birds as well as surveys for special-status wildlife species including the California red-legged frog, California tiger salamander, northwestern pond turtle, and burrowing owl. She has also performed surveys for rare plants and assisted with jurisdictional delineations.

Prior to joining Integral Consulting, she worked as a field biologist in the wildlife group at H. T. Harvey & Associates.

Relevant Experience

Biological Surveying and Monitoring

I‐80 Westbound Cordelia Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Facility (CCVEF) Project, Fairfield, California — Conducted twice-weekly nesting bird surveys for the Solano Transportation Authority–Caltrans joint CCVEF on westbound I-80. Also approved by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) as a qualified biologist to conduct pre-activity surveys, monitoring, and relocations for the California red-legged frog and northwestern pond turtle under the Biological Opinion for the project. Assisted with a roosting bat pre-activity survey and dusk bat emergence survey for the project. Set up three bat Anabat bat detectors to record bat echolocation calls. No bats were observed exiting the subject building during the survey.

Moffett Federal Airfield (MFA) Wildlife Permit Support, Mountain View, California — Assisted with wildlife support with a primary emphasis on managing the existing population of breeding, migrant, and wintering burrowing owls that are present on the airfield and adjacent areas, in the presence of ongoing airfield daily operations. Performed sitewide burrowing owl surveys throughout the nonbreeding season, assessed habitat conditions in owl preserves, conducted pre-activity burrowing owl surveys throughout the airfield, conducted monitoring of burrowing owls and occupied burrows when necessary, and coordinated with NASA biologists to ensure adherence to the MFA burrowing owl management plan and survey requirements. Observed dozens of burrowing owls and active burrows with sign.

Calero/Guadalupe Dam Seismic Retrofit, San Jose, California — Conducted a pre-activity San Francisco dusky footed woodrat surveys for the Calero Dam Seismic Retrofit Project. Located and mapped the location of woodrat nests in the vicinity of proposed boring and test pit locations.

Anderson Dam Seismic Retrofit Project, Morgan Hill, California — Assisted with a pre-activity survey for Crotch’s bumble bee in support of the Anderson Dam Seismic Retrofit Project. No individuals were detected; however, suitable wintering habitat was observed. Also conducted a rare plant survey for coyote ceanothus in support of the project. Identified multiple coyote ceanothus individuals in the survey area. Followed proper sanitation guidelines to prevent introduction and spread of Phytophthora and other plant pests and pathogens in preparation of survey.

Kobold Reach of Northern Drainage Channel Repairs, Dublin, California — Approved by the USFWS as a qualified biologist to conduct pre-activity surveys, biological monitoring, and relocations for California red-legged frogs and California tiger salamanders in support of the repair of a destabilized channel at a mitigation site located along the Kobold reach of Tassajara Creek in the Northern Drainage Conservation Area under the project’s Biological Opinion.

Stanford University Medical Facilities, Nesting Bird and Roosting Bat Assistance, Palo Alto, Redwood City, and Stanford, California — Conducted weekly nesting bird surveys, construction monitoring and raptor surveys in support of ongoing construction activities throughout the 2023, 2024, 2025, and 2026 nesting seasons at Stanford University Medical Center in Santa Clara County. Duties included locating and mapping active nests, establishing and monitoring nondisturbance buffers, and communicating with construction crews to ensure nesting birds were not disturbed by ongoing work. Detected numerous active nests of passerines during the surveys. Drafted and submitted weekly summaries and monthly reports for Stanford.

Los Vaqueros Reservoir Watershed and Conservation Land Biological Support, Contra Costa, San Joaquin, and Alameda Counties, California — Assisted with monitoring populations of California red-legged frogs and California tiger salamander in support of the Los Vaqueros Expansion Project in Contra Costa County. Conducted California red-legged frog larval and metamorph surveys, visual surveys, egg mass surveys, and nocturnal surveys. Observed hundreds and handled dozens of larval California red-legged frogs and California tiger salamanders.

California High-Speed Rail Environmental Services (Fresno-Bakersfield Section), Fresno, Kern, Tulare, and Kings Counties, California — Served as CDFW-approved Level 1 Blunt-Nosed Leopard Lizard surveyor on the Fresno to Bakersfield sections of the High-Speed Rail Project. Conducted protocol-level surveys and observed individuals of the target species along with the sympatric species western whiptail and western side-blotched lizard.

Palo Alto Baylands Boardwalk Repair Project, Palo Alto, California — Conducted pre-activity surveys, biological monitoring, and training sessions for the California Ridgway’s rail and salt marsh harvest mouse in support of the Palo Alto Baylands Boardwalk project. Observed and heard vocalization from the species during the work.

Bat Surveys for PG&E Topock Compressor Station Groundwater Remediation, San Bernardino County, California — Assisted with monitoring populations of the pallid bat, Yuma myotis, Canyon bat, and additional species at the Topock Remediation site near Needles in Mohave County, Arizona. Conducted roost exit counts, mist netting, radio telemetry, acoustic monitoring, and habitat surveys. During mist net surveys, removed bats from nets, adhered radio transmitters to bats, recorded individual diagnostics, and conducted telemetry.

Pelican’s Jaw Hybrid Solar Project, Kern County, California — Conducted a burrowing owl survey at Pelican’s Jaw Mendiburn Mitigation Land in Lost Hills, Kern County. Observed and mapped four burrowing owls and 10+ suitable burrows with sign (pellets, white wash, or feathers). Also observed and mapped kangaroo rat precincts, a San Joaquin kit fox individual, and American badger dens.

Wetland Delineation

Valley Water Stream Maintenance Program Renewal, Santa Clara County, California — Assisted with the wetland delineation effort along approximately 50 miles of streams in Santa Clara County in support of the Santa Clara Valley Water District’s stream maintenance program. Dug soil pits to identify hydric soils, identified and categorized native and nonnative wetland vegetation, and analyzed local hydrology to determine if survey points were classified as a wetland.

Education & Credentials

Highlights

5 years of experience

Avian ecology

Nesting bird and burrowing owl surveys and monitoring

Special-status plant and wildlife surveys, monitoring, and habitat assessments

California red-legged frog and California tiger salamander surveys and habitat assessments

Education & Credentials

B.A., Environmental Studies, University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, California, 2015

Permits and Licenses

California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) Plant Voucher Collecting Permit

Professional Experience

Field biologist, H. T. Harvey & Associates, 2022–July 2026

Volunteer, Forest Fear Lab, University of California, Santa Cruz, 2025-present

Lead botanist, San Jose State University Interdisciplinary Fire Research Center research project, San Vicente Redwoods, 2023

Volunteer, Quail Hollow Ranch Nest Box Project, 2019

Environmental Consultant, Davey Resource Group, 2018

Nature Tour Assistant, Mobile Ranger, 2015–2017

Assistant Ecologist, Jodi McGraw Consulting, 2015

Field Assistant Intern, Younger Lagoon Reserve, 2014

Environmental Education Intern, Life Lab, 2014

Water Quality Monitoring Field Assistant Intern, Coastal Watershed Council, 2013

Clear Filter