Meet the Owner

Swift Biological Consulting LLC (Swift Biological) was founded by Jennifer Michaud, a biologist and wildlife specialist, with over two decades of experience in natural resource consulting. Throughout her career, Jennifer’s primary focus has been the conservation and management of wildlife and sensitive biological resources in northern California. She has extensive experience conducting biological assessments, field surveys and inventories, report writing, natural resource education, construction oversight, monitoring, and project management. She is trained in wetland delineations, California Rapid Assessment Method (CRAM), and holds State and federal permits for select special-status species. She has worked throughout California’s diverse ecosystems in both terrestrial and aquatic systems and is familiar with the regulatory compliance requirements to protect these resources. Before establishing Swift Biological, Jennifer worked for a private consulting and restoration firm in Sebastopol, Sonoma County for over 20 years. 

Jennifer has authored numerous technical documents including biological resource assessments, species-specific biological assessments for federal agency consultations, biological resource sections for California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) documents, species-specific habitat assessments, and monitoring reports. She has managed the development and co-authored natural resource management plans for many iconic Sonoma County parks and open spaces including the Sonoma Developmental Center, Fitch Mountain, Wright Hill Ranch, Healdsburg Ridge, and Taylor Mountain. She has performed numerous field inventories of natural resources, worked closely with contractors on natural resource protection during construction projects, and participated in long-term field monitoring studies for endangered fish and amphibian populations.   

Jennifer has extensive professional training including salmonid biology and ecology, GIS, wetland plant identification, wetland delineation, CRAM, environmental regulations and CEQA compliance, Wildlife Biologist Construction Awareness Training (WildCAT), and special-status amphibian, reptile, Point Arena mountain beaver, and salt marsh harvest mouse ecology and survey techniques. Before entering private consulting, Jennifer worked in fisheries research and management for Sonoma Water. She completed her masters in biology at Sonoma State University studying songbirds in west Marin County in collaboration with Point Blue Conservation Science. She published her thesis work entitled Effects of Nest Predation and Brood Parasitism on Population Viability of Wilson’s Warblers in Coastal California in the Wilson’s Bulletin.