Ph.D., Wildlife Biologist/Wetland Ecologist
Dr. Helm is a senior biologist and wetland ecologist with over 18 years’ experience as a professional consultant, research scientist, and adjunct professor. Dr. Helm received his Ph.D. in Ecology from the University of California, Davis in 1999. He also has an M.S. in Ecology from U.C. Davis (1996) and a B.S. in Wildlife Management from Humboldt State University (1988).
As a consultant, Dr. Helm has served as project manager and principal investigator for a broad range of resource assessment, mitigation and conservation projects including many large-scale, complex, and controversial projects. These have included developing and implementing field surveys for special-status plant and wildlife species; assessing sensitive resource impacts and developing mitigation plans; performing regional status surveys, assessing the relative significance of populations, and evaluating threats and endangerment status of species under consideration for listing; and preparing regional conservation and management plans.
Dr. Helm is an expert on the wildlife, ecology, restoration and creation of vernal pools, and is included on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s (USFWS) list of recognized specialists in fairy shrimp (Crustacea: Anostraca) identification. He developed current USFWS-approved procedures for the dry-season and wet-season sampling for federally listed large branchiopods. He prepared range maps from all known occurrences of California’s 23 fairy shrimp species for a book entitled “Fairy Shrimp of California’s Pools, Puddles, and Playas” (Ericsen and Belk 1999). He has conducted large branchiopod surveys in more than 7,000 vernal pools and other seasonal wetlands throughout 49 counties in California and five counties in Oregon (more than 200 individual projects). He has served as the project manager and principal scientist for broad-scale vernal pool conservation planning, mitigation, and management studies for listed large branchiopods in Merced, Sacramento, San Joaquin, Shasta, Butte, and Yuba Counties. He has also served as a senior scientist and project manager for several Habitat Conservation Plans involving vernal pool resource issues including the North Natomas HCP, San Joaquin HCP, Sacramento HCP, and Yolo HCP.