Q. What is the official name of your company?
A. ABR, Inc.- Environmental Research & Services
Q. Is your firm a subsidiary or affiliate of other companies?
A. ABR is an independent S Corp.
Q. What do you most want people to know about your company?
A. ABR is a homegrown Alaskan company with a proven 40-year track record serving the oil industry in Alaska, including work throughout the North Slope and offshore in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas, Cook Inlet, and Prince William Sound/Gulf of Alaska (EVOS). We have extensive institutional knowledge of the history of oil development in Alaska, the regulations and regulators who oversee oil development, and the stakeholders who participate in or are affected by development decisions. Perhaps most importantly, our scientists have outstanding expertise and experience studying Alaska’s fish and wildlife resources and the landscapes and habitats that support them.
Q. Where is your company located?
A. ABR’s corporate headquarters are in Fairbanks, and we have a branch office in Anchorage.
Q. What year was the company founded and by whom?
A. ABR (Alaska Biological Research) was founded in 1976 by Bob Ritchie and Jim Curatolo. Bob Ritchie remains with the company as an active senior scientist and board member.
Q. What is your company’s primary business activity?
A. ABR is an environmental consulting firm providing expertise in wildlife and fisheries science; marine biology; landscape ecology, wetlands and soil science; ecological restoration; statistics, GIS/satellite mapping and analysis; permitting support; and environmental documentation (e.g., NEPA).
Q. Are there important projects the company is currently a part of or has done recently?
A. ABR has been involved in many of the major development initiatives in Alaska in recent years, including new North Slope developments at Pt. Thomson, CD 5, GMT 1 & 2, Nanushuk, and Liberty; offshore and onshore studies in support of Chukchi Sea exploration and development planning; AK LNG; and baselines studies for Susitna Hydro and the Pebble Mine.
Q. How many employees does your company have?
A. Sixty.
Q. Describe the equipment and technology your company uses?
A. Although ABR essentially is an information/knowledge-based company, we regularly use specialized equipment to make data collection and analysis more efficient and accurate. For example, we pioneered the use of ornithological radar in the 1980s and still maintain those capabilities for monitoring nocturnal movements of birds near development projects (e.g., offshore facilities). ABR also uses Android tablets in combination with proprietary software to collect data electronically in the field. The data are transferred from the devices to our server-based relational databases for additional QA/QC, analysis, and archiving.
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Q. Is the company changing any of its services or products?
A. Yes, we currently are focused on expanding our permit support services, including endangered species, marine mammals, and wetlands. ABR has always had an experienced team of subject matter experts, and we now are expanding our permitting capabilities to provide our clients with more turn-key support services.
Q. What is your company’s main strength or its edge over the competition?
A. ABR has an exemplary reputation not only with our clients, but also with regulatory agencies and other groups (e.g., Alaska Native entities) for objective and rigorous science. Our reputation benefits our clients because our work products are respected by a broad spectrum of stakeholders, which translates into credibility for our client’s permit applications. This credibility, in turn, frequently translates into less contentious and timelier negotiations with agencies and other stakeholders.
Q. What new markets, clients or projects did your company attract in the last year?
A. In 2015 we started a 4-year contract with NASA’s ABoVE (Arctic Boreal Vulnerability Experiment) program. ABR is leading a multidisciplinary research effort that uses remote-sensing, field studies, and sociological investigations to address environmental changes and their impacts on the Yukon-Kuskokwim (Y-K) Delta region of western Alaska.
We also recently started another landscape monitoring project on the Y-K Delta for the Western Alaska Landscape Conservation Cooperative (WALCC). This project is complementary to the ABoVE project and is focused on monitoring and modeling landscape-level impacts from wildfires. The products of this work will inform Y-K resource managers and local stakeholders on the dynamics and trajectories of terrestrial and aquatic habitats following tundra wildfires.
Q. What are examples of challenging work/contracts the company has undertaken?
A. ABR’s work on Exxon Valdez Oil Spill (EVOS) from 1989 to 2013 was challenging because of the scientific complexity and litigious nature of the work. We conducted a number of post-spill research projects on birds and marine mammals for both Exxon and the EVOS Trustee Council. The fact that both sides of this highly controversial and litigious issue were interested in ABR’s services is a testament to both the quality and objectivity of our work.
Q. What do you see as your company’s biggest challenge in the next five years?
A. ABR is experiencing the same economic headwinds that are occurring throughout Alaska. Maintaining our capacity and key staff during periods of reduced revenues is our biggest challenge.
Q. Does your company have an anniversary or other landmark event coming up?
A. ABR is celebrating 40 years of business in Alaska in this year!
Q. What is the average length of time employee’s work for the company?
A. Relative to most consulting companies, ABR has remarkable employee retention and loyalty, and we think this provides exceptional value to our clients. The majority of our senior scientists have over 20 years in at ABR, and the average length of time of service for our entire staff in 2015 was 12.5 years.
Q. What is your company’s safety record? What steps does the company take to ensure a safe work environment?
A. ABR has an excellent safety record and has implemented a culture of safety and a formal HSE program that meets or exceeds the standards of our clients and our self-imposed focus on employee welfare. Our employees regularly attend mandatory (e.g., NSTC) and discretionary (e.g., IFC Workshops) training sponsored by our clients. Because we regularly deploy field crews to remote sites in Alaska, our employees all are provided First Aid, bear safety, and gun safety training.
Q. Has your company been involved in any community projects or charity events?
A. ABR has been a leader in promoting business practices that support a triple bottom line philosophy: economic viability, environmental stewardship, and social responsibility. These practices include donating ~7.5% of our annual profits to charities, sponsoring and compensating our employees for service to non-profits, and company-wide carbon accounting and mitigation. Our interest in maintaining strong connections in the communities where we live and work is a major component of our triple bottom line. For example, we work with young scientists in local and rural communities in a variety of ways, including science fairs, internships (Alaska Native Science and Engineering Program, UAF), and by providing opportunities for Native youth to participate in our field projects near their communities. We are proud to spread the message that good corporate citizenship in the form of socially and environmentally responsible business practices is not at odds with economic success.
Q. What is the address of your company’s website?
A. abrinc.com
