Kara Mulvihill

Kara Mulvihill, a co-founder of Lark Environmental, is an environmental planner with extensive experience in NEPA compliance and land use planning. She earned a B.S. in Public Administration with a major in Environmental Management from Indiana University, and a Master of Urban and Regional Planning (MURP) with a concentration in Land Use and Environmental Planning from the University of Colorado.

Before co-founding Lark Environmental, Kara served as an environmental specialist on multiple NEPA reviews while also working as part of a team performing state-wide environmental compliance audits across the U.S. and its territories. Because of her expertise and foundation in environmental planning, she has served as an effective manager for environmental assessments ranging from upstream oil and gas exploration and development to agricultural leasing and infrastructure projects. Kara also served as the permitting specialist for a large-scale oil and gas exploration company, where she was responsible for the permitting program, including overseeing environmental contractors’ NEPA work submissions.

Kara has had the honor to work with and for Native American tribes almost exclusively for the last several years, completing numerous land use plans and NEPA reviews. Through that work, she has led or assisted with extensive public outreach and community coordination initiatives, including public meeting planning and facilitation, community survey development and analysis, door-to-door canvassing, etc. Kara excels at understanding stakeholders and the community’s concerns and issues while developing tangible solutions.

Juli Anna McNutt

Juli Anna McNutt, a co-founder of Lark Environmental, specializes in supporting the private and government sector with expertise in wildlife ecology, program management, and NEPA. She earned a B.S. in Wildlife & Fisheries Sciences from Texas A&M University and an M.S. in Environmental Biology from the University of Houston. Juli Anna is a clear communicator with the ability to relate to different audiences regarding sensitive issues, efficiently understand potential issues and develop rapid, effective, and practical solutions.

Prior to co-founding Lark Environmental, Juli Anna served as a direct contractor to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Restoration Center in Washington D.C., assisting with their statute responsibilities while gaining critical direct knowledge of relevant regulations, and developing internal policies for leadership. Throughout her environmental consulting career, Juli Anna has developed countless NEPA-related review documents, in addition to performing desktop and field studies for Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and Environmental Assessment (EA)-level analyses, and Natural Resource Damage Assessments in response to oil spills. She continually manages numerous projects that are complex with ecological and political challenges that require innovative resolutions. Furthermore, she has conducted hundreds of field surveys for sensitive species and habitats and can rapidly understand data needs to develop real-time solutions.

For the last 10 years, the majority of Juli Anna’s time and experience has focused on various natural resource planning and NEPA for and with Native American tribes in the Great Plains.

RESOURCES MANAGEMENT PLANNING

Your authority on environmental services and resource management planning, our team has both the experience and know how to efficiently understand, plan for, and manage potential natural resource, climate, vegetation, and fish and wildlife issues. This allows us to develop rapid, effective, and practical solutions for our clients that will ensure the project ends up complete and all environmental regulations are followed.

Working together to meet your goals, we develop an understanding of each client’s end goal. To help them reach that goal, we create resource management plans that serve as blueprints to ensure the successful long-term management of everything from climate, rangelands, and forests to noxious weeds.

We understand that resource planning has a lasting effect that reaches beyond local communities, and we believe these plans should be developed collaboratively, with the help and input of local community members and other stakeholders. We strive to produce a final plan that will lead to sustainable management of natural resources as well as one that truly reflects the needs and wishes of the local people and communities.

PLAN WELL

We assist with:

Site-Specific to Large-Scale Resource Management Plans
Public & Stakeholder Involvement
Agency Coordination

AGENCY COORDINATION EXPERIENCE

We work with:

BIA
NRCS
FSA
USFWS
State Agencies
Sovereign Tribal Nations

DOCUMENT PREPARATION

We prepare:

Agricultural Resource Management Plans
Noxious Weed Plans
Reclamation Plans
Mitigation Plans
Integrated Resource Management Plans
Grazing Plans
Drought Plans
Climate Adaptation Plans
Natural Resource Field Guides

NEPA

At Lark, we have more than 30 years of combined experience completing scientifically defensible NEPA documents for a variety of actions. We have completed NEPA reviews for natural resource and restoration plans, infrastructure projects (e.g., schools, daycares, housing, roads, dams, and powerlines), agricultural activities, buffalo restoration, energy development (e.g., oil and gas, pipelines, mining, right-of-way leasing and permitting, and liquid natural gas [LNG] terminals), and alternative energy development. Although our NEPA experience is nationwide, we routinely complete NEPA reviews for projects on trust lands across the American West.

At Lark, we are experts in large-scale programmatic environmental assessments, which provide major cost and time savings to clients and agencies. These programmatic analyses provide you the flexibility to carry out your project and resource management actions while complying with agency recommendations and requirements for streamlining NEPA.

What is NEPA

The National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) must be followed by all federal agencies when: federal funding, federal lands, and/or federal authorities are involved with a project.

PLAN WELL

We assist with:

• Public & Stakeholder Involvement
• Agency Coordination
• Alternative Analyses
• Mitigation Plans

AGENCY COORDINATION EXPERIENCE

We’ve worked with:

• NOAA
• BIA
• USFWS
• OSMRE
• BLM
• FSA
• NRCS
• USACE
• USAF
• FERC
• HUD

DOCUMENT PREPARATION

We prepare:

• Categorical Exclusions
• Environmental Assessments
• Tiered Environmental Assessments
• Supplemental Environmental Assessments
• Programmatic Environmental Assessments
• Environmental Impact Statements
• NEPA Checklists from Programmatic Analyses

PERMITTING ASSISTANCE

We specialize in state, federal, and tribal permitting, with efficient agency coordination and affordable permit preparation, submittal, and tracking.

Knowledgeable in alternative energy and upstream oil and gas exploration and development, we understand the fast-paced, complex environment of investors and firms, where priorities and schedules can change at any time. This experience allows us to streamline your permitting and environmental reporting needs. We work with your team to remove bureaucratic hurdles and ensure you have all the proper documentation to keep your resource planning and management projects on track and under budget.

At Lark, we are dedicated to building strong partnerships with our clients. Working together toward a common goal, we help our clients successfully complete the plans, reports, permitting documents, and processes required to implement and complete their projects.

PLAN WELL
We prepare federal, state, local, and tribal permits for oil and gas exploration, construction services, and more.

We assist with:

APD Preparation and Tracking
Agency Coordination
Reclamation Plans
Noxious Weed Plans
Mitigation Plans

DOCUMENT PREPARATION

We prepare:

Federal, state, local, and tribal permits for oil and gas exploration, construction services, and more.

THREATENED & ENDANGERED SPECIES SERVICES

At Lark, we work closely with our clients to understand what is needed for their projects so that they comply with the Endangered Species Act, Migratory Bird Treaty Act, Bald and Golden Eagle Act, and more.

Our team has both the experience and know-how to efficiently understand, plan for, and manage potential climate, vegetation, and fish and wildlife issues. This allows us to develop rapid, effective, and practical solutions for our clients that will ensure the project ends up complete and all environmental regulations are followed. We assist our clients by handling the coordination with appropriate fish and wildlife regulatory agencies, including Section 7 consultations.

Where quality and collaboration meet environmental expertise, Lark is here to ensure you follow the necessary rules and environmental regulations needed to complete your project.

AGENCY COORDINATION EXPERIENCE
We work with:

USFWS
BIA
BLM
NOAA
DOD
USACE
FERC
Department of Homeland Security
Coast Guard
State Agencies

DOCUMENT PREPERATION
We prepare:

Biological Assessments
Biological Evaluations
Programmatic Biological Assessments
Addendums to Biological Assessments
Threatened and Endangered Species Impact Analysis and Avoidance Checklists
Threatened and Endangered Species Permitting Evaluations
Geospatial Analyses
Endangered Species Determinations
Mitigation Plans (for specific species)
Threatened and Endangered Species NEPA sections

Our Services

NEPA

Resources Management Planning

THREATENED & ENDANGERED SPECIES AND ECOLOGICAL SERVICES

Permitting assistance

Kara Mulvihill

Juli Anna McNutt

RESOURCES MANAGEMENT PLANNING

PLAN WELL

AGENCY COORDINATION EXPERIENCE

DOCUMENT PREPARATION

NEPA

What is NEPA

PLAN WELL

AGENCY COORDINATION EXPERIENCE

DOCUMENT PREPARATION

PERMITTING ASSISTANCE

THREATENED & ENDANGERED SPECIES SERVICES