Carl D. Nielsen, CLM      Vice President      Ecological Services &      Environmental Permitting

Carl Nielsen is a Vice President at ESS Group, Inc. and serves as Practice Leader of the Ecological Services and Environmental Permitting Practice. He has more than 19 years of experience working as an aquatic biologist assessing marine and freshwater ecosystems within the United States and the Caribbean. Mr. Nielsen's experience and understanding of aquatic resources allow him to routinely guide complex and varied habitat and wildlife evaluations for a diverse client group. His clients have included government and municipal agencies, electric and gas utilities, commercial and resort developers, golf courses, and lake and watershed associations.  His resume includes lake, wetland, and watershed assessment and restoration projects; avian studies for wind energy projects; marine mammal, fish, and benthic organism studies for offshore renewable energy generation and submarine cable installations; stormwater assessment, modeling and analysis; and a variety of long-term resource monitoring programs.  

Mr. Nielsen oversees the development of environmental impact reports and a wide array of environmental permit applications and uses his scientific understanding to recommend appropriate management and mitigation strategies. Mr. Nielsen also guides many ESS resource sampling programs, applying his expertise in statistical analyses to quantitatively document baseline conditions and monitor sites for potential changes in the environment due to project construction or operations.

Mr. Nielsen is actively involved in environmental restoration, and has performed numerous projects to improve water quality and aquatic habitat conditions in lakes, streams, and estuaries throughout the Northeast. He develops customized watershed models to identify effective watershed management strategies and works with ESS project teams to implement Low Impact Design (LID) approaches to stormwater management. His teams also assess ecological impacts of water supply development and implement related monitoring programs.  

Professional Affiliations
North American Lake Management Society - Certified Lake Manager (CLM)
North American Benthological Society
Northeast Aquatic Plant Management Society

Education
MS, Fisheries and Wildlife, University of Missouri - Columbia, School of Natural Resources
BA, Biology, Colgate University
Tufts University, Water Quality Modeling for TMDLs, 40-hr. Workshop