VHB has announced that Meghan Lout has joined the VHB’s South Burlington, Vermont office as an Environmental Scientist. Meg brings over ten years of professional experience in wildlife biology, with a focus on avian and bat ecology and research. Most of her experience relates to the design and implementation of pre and post-construction wildlife studies at proposed and operational wind facilities, although she has also worked on solar projects, oil and gas developments and natural gas pipelines. She is an expert in the visual and auditory identification of birds and has conducted ground-based surveys for numerous bird types and has extensive raptor-specific aerial survey experience, particularly for bald and golden eagles. Meg has also monitored reintroduced California condors, outfitted both wood thrush and ferruginous hawks with transmitters, and monitored these species nesting success. She is also trained and experienced in the acoustic analysis of bird songs and identification of flight calls of nocturnally migrating songbirds.
Meg has identified hundreds of bats in hand and is highly trained in the conduct of acoustic bat studies for general activity and species-specific surveys for federally and state-threatened and endangered bats. Meg is expected to be listed as an approved acoustic bat analyst by the US Fish and Wildlife Service in spring 2016. Meg has bat mist-netting experience and has outfitted myotis bats with transmitters, tracked individuals to roost trees and conducted foraging telemetry and emergence counts. Meg is also experienced in the design and conduct of surveys for other federally and state threatened and endangered mammal species, including: Prairie dogs, Canada lynx, black-footed ferret and Allegheny woodrat. Meg’s experience also includes Incidental Take Permitting for wind facilities and environmental regulation compliance and monitoring under the Endangered Species Act and National Environmental Policy Act.
VHB welcomes Meg to the Vermont office team and we are excited to add her capabilities to the list of in-house services we offer to our clients. Most recently, Meg was working in a similar role as a Wildlife Biologist and Project Manager for Western EcoSystems Technology, Inc (WEST). Prior to that, she worked as an Adjunct Professor of Ecology at Springfield College and was the Avian and Bat Migration Supervisor for Stantec, working out of their Topsham, Maine office. Her additional wildlife research experience includes working with state and federally-listed avian and bat species for both the government and private sectors. Meg received her M.S in Ecology, Evolution and Population Ecology from Purdue University and completed her B.S in Wildlife and Fisheries Conservation at the University of Massachusetts.