Applied Eco Serv Intro

Editor's Notes

1. Have just top two slidesNeed to incorporate the discussion of our existing BMP’s not currently in discussion. The use of existing healthy…WetlandsForestsPrairiesSwalesStreams
2. Have just top two slidesNeed to incorporate the discussion of our existing BMP’s not currently in discussion. The use of existing healthy…WetlandsForestsPrairiesSwalesStreams
3. Seneca Meadows Wetland, Landfill The Seneca Meadows, Inc. Landfill is the largest active landfill in New York, located about 45 miles east of Rochester, New York. Initially, AES had a defined, limited role which was to assist in finding wetland mitigation sites for the landfill expansion that was proposed to impact at least 70 acres of highly-altered wetlands. Upon visiting the site, AES soon found that most of the impacts to forested wetlands were not necessary and instead realized that hundreds of acres of forested wetlands could be enhanced as a part of the expansion project.AES found an innovative way to restore 350 acres of these wetlands along with almost 600 acres of restoration of former drained agricultural lands and dewatered, forested wetlands as compensation for the 70 acres of impact to highly disturbed wetlands. This project received permits in July 2007 and ecological restoration will occur on approximately 1,200 acres that will be protected by a conservation easement to ensure that science-based management occurs on the land forever. This project will feature a nature center, trails, and beautiful scenery throughout, in a county where few such outdoor educational opportunities exist. AES is currently restoring/developing sedge meadow, riparian landscapes, forested wetlands, and eventually create native grassland planting on the closed landfill.Because of the creativity of the AES scientists in visualizing different ways to work with the wetland impacts, AES has set a new precedent in the state of New York in the permitting of such large impact projects. The USEPA national office calls the project a model on how future large-wetland impacts can address mitigation. The local community is ecstatic about the project, the expansion, the nature center, and the new open-space system that they will have access to. This project is a great example of how AES’s consulting, contracting, and nursery divisions can work together to provide the client, the community, and the environment with a win-win scenario.AES Contracting has installed 169,750 herbaceous plugs, 9,487 trees and shrubs, brushed 260 acres, and seeded 421 acres of newly created wetland and upland habitats with diverse, customized native species mixes, containing 30% locally-collected seed from onsite or from within a 5-mile radius of the project site and augmented with approved native seed materials. AES native nursery Taylor Creek Restoration Nurseries coordinated and conducted seed collections and processing from its Brodhead Wisconsin operation. AES Consulting continues to provide ecological oversight of the project. This project was awarded the 2009 Business Friend of the Environment Award from the Wisconsin Environmental Working Group.
4. Seneca Meadows Wetland, Landfill The Seneca Meadows, Inc. Landfill is the largest active landfill in New York, located about 45 miles east of Rochester, New York. Initially, AES had a defined, limited role which was to assist in finding wetland mitigation sites for the landfill expansion that was proposed to impact at least 70 acres of highly-altered wetlands. Upon visiting the site, AES soon found that most of the impacts to forested wetlands were not necessary and instead realized that hundreds of acres of forested wetlands could be enhanced as a part of the expansion project.AES found an innovative way to restore 350 acres of these wetlands along with almost 600 acres of restoration of former drained agricultural lands and dewatered, forested wetlands as compensation for the 70 acres of impact to highly disturbed wetlands. This project received permits in July 2007 and ecological restoration will occur on approximately 1,200 acres that will be protected by a conservation easement to ensure that science-based management occurs on the land forever. This project will feature a nature center, trails, and beautiful scenery throughout, in a county where few such outdoor educational opportunities exist. AES is currently restoring/developing sedge meadow, riparian landscapes, forested wetlands, and eventually create native grassland planting on the closed landfill.Because of the creativity of the AES scientists in visualizing different ways to work with the wetland impacts, AES has set a new precedent in the state of New York in the permitting of such large impact projects. The USEPA national office calls the project a model on how future large-wetland impacts can address mitigation. The local community is ecstatic about the project, the expansion, the nature center, and the new open-space system that they will have access to. This project is a great example of how AES’s consulting, contracting, and nursery divisions can work together to provide the client, the community, and the environment with a win-win scenario.AES Contracting has installed 169,750 herbaceous plugs, 9,487 trees and shrubs, brushed 260 acres, and seeded 421 acres of newly created wetland and upland habitats with diverse, customized native species mixes, containing 30% locally-collected seed from onsite or from within a 5-mile radius of the project site and augmented with approved native seed materials. AES native nursery Taylor Creek Restoration Nurseries coordinated and conducted seed collections and processing from its Brodhead Wisconsin operation. AES Consulting continues to provide ecological oversight of the project. This project was awarded the 2009 Business Friend of the Environment Award from the Wisconsin Environmental Working Group.
5. Menomonee Brownfield RestorationClient: City of MilwaukeeProject Type: Urban Brownfield RestorationProject Location: Milwaukee, WIProject Duration: 2002Project Size: 140 acresThis project was commissioned by a multi-agency partnership including the Redevelopment Authority of the City of Milwaukee, Menomonee Valley Partners, Inc., and the Sixteenth Street Community Health Center. Applied Ecological Services (AES) was retained with Wenk Associates, Inc. after our team won a national design competition to restore and revitalize the old railroad shops area of the Menomonee River Valley in downtown Milwaukee. The site includes a mile of the Menomonee River and associated floodplain that had been degraded severely over many decades of rail yard use. The project area included contaminated areas with abandoned service buildings and large volumes of construction wastes. The design provides positive economic impact by promoting light-industrial development, improving public access and tremendously upgrading site aesthetics by creating diverse natural-habitat areas that also provide improved stormwater treatment and flood management. The sustainable design created for this urban brownfield redevelopment area that will help regenerate the site both economically and culturally by encouraging private industry to locate there, providing many local jobs. Contaminated soils and the degraded aquatic environment will be cleaned up to meet all state and federal criteria.To improve public access, Canal Street was restructured to connect the valley from east to west, and walkways, bridges and trails—including a link on the Hank Aaron State Trail—will improve river access and reconnect communities to the north and south. The design created by Wenk and AES provides the City of Milwaukee and its partner agencies with the plan to accomplish economically feasible and ecologically sensitive redevelopment of the highly urbanized Menomonee River Valley. This project serves as an excellent example of sustainable redevelopment for an urban brownfield. The Wenk/AES team recieved the American Society of Landscape Architects Analysis & Planning Merit Award for this project in 2003.
6. Hine’s Emerald Dragonfly Habitat Conservation PlanClient: Lehigh HansonProject Value: $1.1MProject Type: Habitat Conservation PlanProject Location: Romeoville, Will County, IllinoisProject Duration: 2005Project Size: 22,000 acresApplied Ecological Services (AES) has directed and coordinated the development of a Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) for the Hine’s Emerald Dragonfly (HED) (a federal and state endangered species) and three other listed species. AES has been the lead in organizing over 30 landowning partners over the course of the past six years in the design, testing and demonstration of vegetation, hydrology and critical habitat restoration practices to help attain and contribute to the recovery of the HED. This species prospers under incredibly specific hydrologic, water-quality and flow-regime conditions. AES, other researchers, and contractor partners have been developing the details necessary to restore and protect intact and disturbed settings. Under agreement with the USFWS, ILDNR, ACE and others, we have implemented a program that helps refine the recovery effort needs on partnering landowner property.AES has worked with the HCP Partnership over three years to develop a draft HCP. The partnership includes AES’ client, Lehigh Hanson (LH), two other industrial partners, Midwest Generation, Commonwealth Edison, and eleven secondary partners—including the Forest Preserve District of Will County and numerous municipalities. AES has completed wetland delineations and vegetation studies on LH’s parcels involved in the plan. AES has also developed preliminary mitigation plans for LH and is coordinating their permitting efforts. AES has designed and implemented a test plot study to demonstrate restoration techniques to be used in mitigation. In addition, AES has assisted in coordinating and conducted groundwater studies in critical recharge areas for the HED wetland habitat.
7. South Milwaukee School AES was hired by the South Milwaukee School District to prepare a master landscape plan–including an ecological restoration plan and a planting plan–for the South Milwaukee Middle School and High School Campus. AES was also retained to complete the installation of all the native plants on site. The project site includes property owned by the South Milwaukee School District and property leased by the district from Milwaukee County. The campus includes a new high school adjacent to the existing high school, as well as additional parking lots, athletic fields, a football stadium and tennis courts. The site is unique because a state endangered perennial–bluestem goldenrod (Solidagocaesia)–as well as the state threatened Butler’s gartersnake (Thamnophisbutleri) are known to exist at the site. These two species populations directly affected development plans for the site. AES ecologists worked with the DNR and the school district to develop a Stormwater Treatment Train™ stormwater management system and restoration plans for the site as well as the adjacent Rawson Woods, a high-quality woodland. The design team at AES worked to develop a planting plan that would compliment the new architecture of the school building while providing an aesthetically pleasing landscape interest throughout the year. AES completed all installation and continues to do maintenance, monitoring, and outreach today. In 2006, this project received the EPA’s Conservation & Native Landscaping Award.
8. South Milwaukee School AES was hired by the South Milwaukee School District to prepare a master landscape plan–including an ecological restoration plan and a planting plan–for the South Milwaukee Middle School and High School Campus. AES was also retained to complete the installation of all the native plants on site. The project site includes property owned by the South Milwaukee School District and property leased by the district from Milwaukee County. The campus includes a new high school adjacent to the existing high school, as well as additional parking lots, athletic fields, a football stadium and tennis courts. The site is unique because a state endangered perennial–bluestem goldenrod (Solidagocaesia)–as well as the state threatened Butler’s gartersnake (Thamnophisbutleri) are known to exist at the site. These two species populations directly affected development plans for the site. AES ecologists worked with the DNR and the school district to develop a Stormwater Treatment Train™ stormwater management system and restoration plans for the site as well as the adjacent Rawson Woods, a high-quality woodland. The design team at AES worked to develop a planting plan that would compliment the new architecture of the school building while providing an aesthetically pleasing landscape interest throughout the year. AES completed all installation and continues to do maintenance, monitoring, and outreach today. In 2006, this project received the EPA’s Conservation & Native Landscaping Award.
9. Flight Path Analysis in a Wind Farm2009-Present, Western MinnesotaA wind energy developer contacted Applied Ecological Services to obtain services for completing a flight path analysis at the request of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, which expressed concerns about potential flights through the wind farm by Trumpeter Swans, a state threatened species, as well as eagles, pelicans and other birds of concern. The study design identifies and characterizes the orientation, elevations, usage and other features of the flight paths. A survey of birds using the area’s wetlands is part of the design. The study is intended to inform the final locations of turbines.Michigan Wind Farm2009-present, Lower Peninsula, MichiganAn engineering firm on behalf of a wind developer asked Applied Ecological Services to conduct a post-construction mortality study at an existing wind farm. Applied Ecological Services developed a protocol for a mortality study, including a carcass removal rate study, a searcher efficiency study, and the search for birds killed by turbines. The project involved large birds. Applied Ecological Services matched the carcass type with the expected type of large bird that could be affected. The study was completed during the spring migration period when mortality was expected. Additional bat monitoring and breeding bird survey work are also being completed for the project.Wyoming Wind Farms2008-present, Laramie AreaA wind energy developer contacted Applied Ecological Services directly to obtain services for completing biological assessments at two wind farm sites consisting of several thousand acres each. As the project got underway, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department issued new guidance for conducting wind development studies, which were as rigorous as Ohio’s. Applied Ecological Services met with representatives of Game and Fish to discuss the issues and is developing a revised protocol for completing the surveys. Applied Ecological Services completed a site review to identify potential issues, and has begun implementing its research program.City of Wyandotte Wyandotte, MichiganAES worked for an engineering firm in assessing four potential wind-turbine sites for the City of Wyandotte. AES conducted an early site review to identify potential biological impacts, and developed a data collection protocol to assess impacts to migratory and breeding birds, to a major continental raptor migration corridor, to the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge, and to Threatened and Endangered Species using the Detroit River and nearby habitats. AES staff met with Fish and Wildlife Service staff in the field, consulted local experts, and completed data collection to rank the four sites on the basis of risks posed to natural resources. Components of risk were habitat type, habitat condition, bird species diversity, bird species abundance, and bird flight behavior. AES also conducted a special study of bird use along the river and of the raptor migration corridor. AES recommended preferred sites with minimal potential for biological impacts. Other cities learned of the project and are discussing additional turbine placement with the City. The project is in the process of being permitted.Ohio Wind Farm2008-present, west-central OhioApplied Ecological Services was retained by an engineering firm on behalf of a wind farm developer to complete biological assessments under the rigorous Ohio Department of Natural Resources wind siting protocols. Implementing these surveys is extremely costly because they last for several weeks to several months each. Applied Ecological Services was able to develop a survey approach that reduced costs. Following a site review to identify potential issues, Applied Ecological Services implemented several studies. These included raptor nest surveys and monitoring, raptor and daytime bird migration surveys, migratory songbird surveys, and bat acoustic monitoring. A partner firm conducted mist-netting for Indiana Bat, a species of concern in the area. Applied Ecological Services met with local officials of the Fish and Wildlife Service and Ohio DNR. The project is on schedule and on budget.Huron County Wind Farm2007-present, Huron County, MichiganApplied Ecological Services was retained by an engineering firm working on behalf of a utility to assist in permitting for a large wind turbine facility. Applied Ecological Services reviewed literature and obtained data to write site reviews for different phases of the project. The project is challenging due to its proximity to the Great Lakes. On-the-ground surveys include two years of migratory bird surveys, breeding bird surveys, raptor and waterfowl migration surveys, bat acoustic monitoring, and special assessments of sensitive species (Kirtland’s Warbler, Bald Eagle, Tundra Swan). Several state listed species also occur here. Because Applied Ecological Services’s work began early in the project, we have been able to work closely with the development team during early turbine siting, meet with the US Fish and Wildlife Service and Michigan Department of Natural Resources, and participate in public meetings as an expert witness. Applied Ecological Services also completed a GIS-based risk assessment model of bird habitat for planning general wind turbine locations. Illinois & Wisconsin Wind Farms2007, Several Counties, Illinois and WisconsinApplied Ecological Services assisted with wind farm permitting in Illinois and Wisconsin as a subconsultant to an engineering firm on behalf of a utility. Applied Ecological Services conducted spring and fall migratory bird surveys and surveys for raptor nests and activity. Harvest Wind I2006-2007, Huron County, Michigan Applied Ecological Services was retained by an engineering firm on behalf of a wind developer to investigate potential impacts of a 60MW wind farm on bird and bat species in Michigan’s Thumb region. This area was near a major waterfowl staging area on Saginaw Bay. Applied Ecological Services reviewed existing data in the region, conducted a literature review on critical issues and species of concern, and conducted spring and fall bird migration surveys. Species of concern in this area include the unique federally endangered Kirtland’s Warbler, whose only breeding habitat occurs north of the proposed site. In addition, a special field study and analysis were completed for Tundra Swan, for which a significant portion of the eastern continental population migrates through the area. This project was permitted in 2007 and the wind farm has been operating successfully for two years.Site Reviews2006-present, Iowa, Ohio, Michigan, Minnesota, Indiana, North Dakota, and WyomingApplied Ecological Services was involved in the early assessment of biological issues facing several proposed wind farms. The reviews identified the natural resource issues and locations in a proposed wind farm which could pose challenges for wind energy development. These issues included endangered and threatened species, migratory routes, game animals, critical wildlife habitat, public hunting and recreation lands, birds, bats, and other special groups. The information provided developers with fine-scale information to plan projects and environmental review activities. Clients included utilities, engineering firm working for third parties, and wind energy development companies.Regulatory Agency ExperienceWe have worked with state Departments of Natural Resources (DNR) or equivalent (e.g., Game and Fish Departments) and often the US. Fish and Wildlife Services in the following midwestern states: Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas. In most of these states we have worked with the DNR on wind energy development projects. In addition we have worked with the US Army Corp. of Engineers on wetland delineations, as well as several other federal and state agencies across the country. Agency staff respects our scientific methods, attention to facts and detail, and balanced approach to natural resource use and development.
10. Illinois Natural Areas Inventory Project Goals • Conduct a statewide natural areas inventory in the state of Illinois. • Identify new natural areas and develop a digital database including ecological community maps, quantitative vegetative data and assessment data regarding natural community quality. In the mid-1970s, the State of Illinois conducted the Illinois Natural Areas Inventory which was the first comprehensive statewide inventory of natural areas is the U.S. Since then, great advances have been made in understanding natural communities and quality indicators. As a result, it was felt there were many areas across the State that would qualify as natural areas that were missed or not included during this original inventory. Additionally, there have been significant advances in technology. Thus, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources sought to undertake the inventory again with the end product being a fully digital database of site maps, natural community boundaries, species lists and other data collected at the sites. The University of Illinois was selected as the prime contractor for the project. AES was selected to identify potential sites, collect and process all the edaphic and vegetation data and GIS information and to nominate qualifying sites as an Illinois Natural Area. To accomplish the project goals, the state was divided into five regions with one ecologist assigned to each region. Four of the five regional ecologists were AES employees. The ecologists reviewed aerial photography to remotely identify potential sites and received leads from universities and other individuals knowledgeable about the natural resources of the state. Each site identified was processed through a series of “screens” to determine whether it might qualify as an Illinois Natural Area. If a site passed through the initial screening process, an ecologist would visit the site to collect qualitative and quantitative data; All natural communities were identified and digitally mapped and a comprehensive matrix was utilized to assign a final quality grade. The project also included revisiting all existing Grade A or Grade B Illinois Natural Areas to re-grade and map these sites to ensure that upon completion of the overall project, the Illinois Natural Areas Inventory would feature a comprehensive, fully digital database of all current natural areas statewide. Two AES ecologists were assigned full-time to this portion of the project and were assisted in the field on an as-needed basis by additional AES ecologists. All the data collected from both parts of the project were processed by AES GIS specialists and entered into a comprehensive database. The completed database will be delivered to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources at the end of 2011.