Marylee Guinon
Principal
Restorationist and Permitting Specialist

As the founder and principal of Sycamore Associates LLC, Ms. Guinon has over 18 years of experience in coordinating multi-disciplinary teams in the design, implementation, and monitoring of integrated planning solutions that achieve resource protection in multiple land use contexts. Ms. Guinon has worked on numerous challenging projects encompassing watershed and flood control planning, habitat and corridor protection, riparian and wetland restoration, habitat construction, regulatory compliance and permitting, adaptive management, bioengineering, consensus building for multiple-use compatibility, community outreach, and funding. She is well known for integrating creative planning and mitigation solutions by working closely with engineers, planners, hydrologists, and key stakeholders.

Ms. Guinon is widely recognized for her ability to streamline the permitting process due to her well-established relationships with regulatory staff, her thorough understanding of regulatory compliance, and her expertise in customizing individual permit strategies. She has facilitated numerous permits from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, California Department of Fish and Game, and the Regional Water Quality Control Board. Ms. Guinon has collaborated with the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on several Section 7 and Section 10 consultations for California red-legged frog, California tiger salamander, Alameda whipsnake, San Joaquin kit fox, Valley elderberry longhorn beetle, Callippe silverspot butterfly, Bay checkerspot butterfly, giant garter snake, vernal pool fairy shrimp, steelhead, delta smelt, tidewater goby, and rare plant species. Ms. Guinon is currently assisting with the creation, implementation, and operation of a 1,100-acre mitigation bank.

Drawing from her expertise, Ms. Guinon has authored a number of frequently referenced publications concerning biodiversity, restoration, forest genetics, and habitat valuation. She regularly teaches courses on restoration, environmental regulations, and land management, as well as provides expert witness testimony.

Ms. Guinon assisted with the design, regulatory permitting, construction, and post-construction phases of an urban creek channel improvement project used as mitigation for the development of a regional intermodal transportation facility, integrating protection and restoration of biological resources, public access, flood control, bank stabilization, property protection, interagency coordination, and restoration of brackish and coastal salt marsh, riparian mudflat, and delta smelt habitats.

Ms. Guinon completed a resource management plan for a 735-acre park containing the third largest sycamore grove in California. Several key issues included special-status plant and animal species, integrated pest management, landslide and erosion, hydrologic regime, cultural and historic resources, habitat restoration and enhancement, recreation and interpretation, access, park operations, community outreach, partnership facilitation, and regulatory compliance.

In her professional capacity, Ms. Guinon has authored several resource and habitat management plans concerning special-status plant and wildlife species, wildlife movement corridors, population viability, multiple-use demands, integrated pest management, water quality treatment, watershed planning, and adaptive management.

Ms. Guinon was a consultant for the San Diego County Multiple Species Conservation Program, a large-scale regional conservation plan for 567,000 acres of coastal San Diego County, providing peer review of preserve design criteria, gap analysis, evaluation of land-use compatibility with preserve design, and policy recommendations. She prepared extensive guidelines addressing appropriate land uses and management activities within the preserve system.

In coordination with U.S. Forest Service geneticists, Ms. Guinon analyzed park policies and prepared comprehensive standards and guidelines for restoration projects and the management of open space lands, in particular recommending new policies for the conservation of biodiversity through the management of genetic resources.

For the Metropolitan Water District, Ms. Guinon designed and conducted field surveys of residential, commercial, and public landscapes throughout Santa Barbara County, assessing vegetation loss due to drought and irrigation restrictions. She created a drought susceptibility index for the species encountered and generated theoretical vegetation loss scenarios for Santa Barbara County during future droughts. Findings related to state water policy and water conservation landscaping practices specific to the City of Santa Barbara were prepared and distributed in a booklet for its citizens entitled Unique Unthirsty Replacements for Common Plants.

Ms. Guinon received her B.S. degree in Forest Genetics, and minor in Statistics, from the University of California, Berkeley, undertook graduate studies at North Carolina State University, and was a Post Graduate Fellow and Giant Sequoia Specialist at the University of Gottingen and Western German Lower Saxony Research Institute in Germany.