Natural Resources Associates has been serving Sarasota and Charlotte Counties and surrounding areas since 2014. However, our environmental staff has over fifty-five combined years of experience with this area’s ecosystems and wildlife. We do everything from endangered species surveys and relocation, to ecosystem restoration and monitoring.
Phillip Brouse, Founder, President, and Sr. Ecologist, is originally from Sarasota, FL and has been a member of nature photography and wildlife groups even as a teen. While obtaining a degree at Utah State University in Natural Resources and Wildlife Management, Phillip worked for a consulting company and State Wildlife Department on an international bird migration project. He also worked on several smaller local projects and taught a wildlife class at the university. After graduating, he returned to Florida in 2000 to work for a large environmental consulting firm based in Tampa. He later left the company to become an Environmental Specialist and Land Manager for Sarasota County in 2001. At the County, Phillip assisted with management on all of the County’s environmental preserves, doing wildlife management and ecosystem restoration and management. Phillip then moved on to a similar position with the FL Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), overseeing activities on several state preserves and conservation areas throughout Central Florida. He left FWC to oversee all of Charlotte County’s environmental parks for several years before finally starting his own consulting company.
Phillip is a FL Certified Prescribed Burn Manager, and he has been working with GPS and GIS mapping since 1997 while building an extensive background in ecosystem delineation. Most of his background has involved identifying, restoring and managing local ecosystems, as well as endangered species management. Phillip is published in the Journal of Raptor Research and a contributor to local published research projects with FWC Marine Fisheries, and to the USFWS Florida Panther Recovery Plan, among others. He has certifications from The Nature Conservancy and and is a member of the Florida Chapter of The Wildlife Society. He has given numerous special interest group talks and eco-tours, as well.
Debbie Blanco, Sr Ecologist, is originally from Sarasota. After receiving a BS degree from University of South Florida in Environmental Science and Policy, she was employed by Sarasota County Natural Resources as an Environmental Specialist. She spent 22 years with the County as an Environmental Land 
Manager, managing many of the county-owned preserves. Debbie is experienced in ecosystem restoration and management, wetland vegetation/hydrology monitoring, prescribed burning and recreational facilities management. She has also been consistently involved with GPS/GIS mapping throughout her career. As part of their environmental staff, Debbie has been an integral part of the County’s Environmentally Sensitive Lands Program, identifying and assisting with land purchases. She is certified from The Nature Conservancy, is a Certified Burn Manager and a licensed Natural Areas Herbicide Applicator.
Currently, Debbie does Quality Assurance & Control, permitting, and project management at Natural Resources Associates.
Gabriel Gonzalez, Environmental Specialist, came from Massachusetts to Florida in 2006. Having copied out the names of a Birds of New England field guide twice at age five, it is little wonder the direction his life took. During his teen years he became an avid birder, active and respected in Sarasota and Charlotte County birding circles. Using the citizen-science program, eBird, Gabriel has contributed 10,992 birding checklists since late 2014. While working on a degree in biology, Gabriel helped kick-start the Prairie Creek Banding Lab, a bird banding station with the purpose of training future banders and as a public outreach. During the summer of 2019, Gabriel worked for The Institute for Bird Populations doing playback surveys for Willow Flycatchers in the upper Sierra Nevada, and he has continued his work in playback studies, volunteering with the Florida Scrub-Jay Conservation Society to establish the boundaries for local Florida Scrub-Jay populations in Sarasota and Charlotte Counties. Gabriel has also worked as a zookeeper at the Center for the Conservation of Tropical Ungulates, caring for numerous sensitive species.
After joining our environmental staff, Gabriel is our lead field ecologist, working on dealing with gopher tortoises, FL Scrub-jays, wetland surveys and mitigation, and many others. He also does the majority of our GIS/GPS mapping.
Corinne Price, Environmental Specialist, has a degree in Communications and is a Masters student in Environmental Science. She has field experience doing protected general species surveys and gopher tortoise surveys and relocation, and nesting seabird/shorebird monitoring, as well as wetland surveys and mitigation area maintenance.
Rachel Barns, Administrative Assistant, puts together agreements and coordinates much of our process with the clients. Rachel is the one in most contact with our clients throughout the process to ensure that our clients have smoothly run projects.