HERON GROUP
The Heron Group, LLC was founded in 1998 as a woman-owned, small business. With almost 60 years of combined experience in forestry, agriculture, and natural resource management issues both in the U.S. and over 50 countries around the world, the Principals started and continue to maintain the company's vision: To facilitate excellence in corporate, government, and non-governmental organizations as they strive to meet new demands from customers.
The Heron Group currently has cores of natural resource-related expertise in:
- Understanding and integrating the role of complex ecological, economic, and social issues in sustainable development
- Monitoring and evaluation; results-oriented strategic planning
- Organizational development and management
- Environment and natural resource economics and policy
- Knowledge-based decision support systems and information technology
- Technical support to forest health
- Water management and policy
- Technical support in managing knowledge; training
- Meeting facilitation
Illustrative water resource management global projects and areas of expertise of Heron specialists
Murmansk Region Barents Sea Sustainable Development Project (1994-1998). Earlier in his career, Dr. Raphael Vartanov was Director for UNDP-Capacity 21 Murmansk Region Barents Sea Sustainable Development Project (1994-1998). For 3.5 years, Dr. Vartanov served as Senior Advisor for international programs with overall responsibility for management of the Murmansk Region-Barents Sea Sustainable Development Project, a $1.6 million cooperative international initiative sponsored by the UNDP and the Government of the Russian Federation. Vartanov played a key role in prioritization and planning of investment programs for the region, in negotiating critical issues related to environmental security, protection of biodiversity, handling of radioactive waste, etc. in the Artic among parties involved in the programme. Vartanov directed twelve Task Force teams (among them one team on Water Resources Management, and the other on Coastal Zone Management and Fisheries) composed of over 150 specialists in development of a Sustainable Development Action Plan for the Murmansk Region of Northwest Russia and development investment projects
Environmental Security. Dr. Vartanov was a team member on International Northern Sea Route Programme (INSROP) conducting study on use of the Northern Sea Route for International passage in the context of environmental security. Funded by Fridtof Nansen Institute of Norway .
Protection, management and restoration of coastal dune systems. In Canada, Dr. Brent Tegler, an Applied Ecologist, has worked on three projects dealing with the protection, management, and restoration of coastal dune systems. These Canadian projects are:
- Assessment of vegetation and development of a fire management strategy for Pinery Provincial Park (located on a 5 km stretch of coastal dunes on Lake Huron)
- Development of vegetation management objectives for Point Pelee
- National Park (located on a sand spit in Lake Erie)
- Restoration management plan for Sandbanks Provincial Park (coastal dune system located on Lake Ontario)
Impacts of Large Scale Commercial Logging and Commercial Fishing Operations. In the Solomon Islands, the majority of the population is located in coastal villages and their largely traditional livelihoods have a strong link to the coastal zone. Including location of villages, utilization of onshore (freshwater, building materials, gardens, wild foods and medicines), nearshore (shellfish, seaweeds, coral, reef fish, waste disposal) and offshore (long-line fishing, transportation routes) resources. And the cycle of human activities may be strongly influenced by seasonal storms during the hurricane season (travel, food availability, marketing of products, catastrophic events). As Environment Officer for Western Province, Dr. Tegler advised the government and worked within a number of coastal villages to address the impacts of large scale commercial logging on the social fabric of villages, the terrestrial environment, in particular as it supports human populations, and the impact of terrestrial erosion on freshwater streams/rivers and nearshore aquatic environments. Similarly, large-scale nearshore and offshore commercial fishing resulted in impacts due to resource depletion and large scale coastal processing facilities. Ships used in commercial logging and fishing had impacts where wharfs were required, disposal of grey/black water, disposal of ballast, waste products from fish processing, dangers due to stray logs drifting in open waters, oil/diesel pollution.
www.herongroupllc.com/
