From: "Graham M Smith" <>
>
> Walt,
>
>
>>> Don't think I was anti consulting work, I used to do a lot of
>>> environmental consultant work.
>
>
> I didn't think that you were, I was just responding in support of
> consultancy, the vast majority (if not all) the ecological consultants I
> know are naturalists first, and the problem is not getting them out all
> night doing filed work, but "trapping" them in the office long enough to
> actually write the reports.
You are describing me and most of those I work with. I love the modern
word processing which allows one to have boilerplate and cut and paste
to a much greater extent than a typewriter ever did. Less time writing,
more field time.
Of course, as a retired biologist I can do more what I please. I try to
stick someone else with writing the reports and just provide the data.
With the herp atlas work it was almost ideal. I only had to provide
field cards and CD's containing the associated recordings. I have helped
out with the office work, but my ratio of office to field on that one is
very good.
> Well, maybe its because nearly all my stuff ends up being torn apart at
> Public Inquiry, but if I had to admit that I was supporting an argument w=
ith
> data collected at the wrong time of year or day, then that would throw do=
ubt
> over all the evidence I was giving. Of course sometimes you are forced to=
do
> the work under less than perfect circumstances, but I don't like doing it=
.
When I worked environmental consulting, it was all about lawyers and big
sums of developer's money at risk. You had to be solid, everything you
put down could easily end up in court. Of course I was also hired to
conduct investigations on others studies, by the money crowd who wanted
to shoot them down. I had one regional shopping center I worked on 7
times, sometimes for it, sometimes against. None of the fighting was
about the environment.
The flip side was that lawyers and developers are extremely uneducated
and easy to fool. And so much of that thing is how big a name the hired
expert has. Some of the laziest around here are very big names in the
field. If they say they are doing a good job, nobody questions it.
Of course I'm way too small a fish to be making any waves around here
about it. I do take great pleasure in scouting areas they have gone
through and discovering what they missed. I let the field work do the
talking.
Walt
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