Statement of Qualifications For
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Statement of Qualifications for Headquarters 1400 Jack Warner Parkway NE Southeastern Tuscaloosa, Alabama 35404 Western Regional Office Regional Office 2128 Moores Mill Road, Suite B (205) 562-5213 MAIN 600 North Market Blvd., Suite 3 Auburn, Alabama 36830 Sacramento, California 92834 (334) 821-1999 MAIN (916) 646-3644 MAIN (334) 821-1969 FAX Rocky Mountain (916) 646-3675 FAX Regional Office 9800 Mt. Pyramid Ct., Suite 400 Englewood, Colorado 80112 wesmitigation.com COMPANY OVERVIEW One of America’s premier land resource companies and a leader in sustainable forest management and conservation practices, The Westervelt Company was founded by Herbert Westervelt as Prairie States Paper Corporation in 1884. The private organization owns nearly 500,000 acres across the Southeast and West. The organization’s vision statement reflects an environmental Headquarters stewardship role, serving to protect and enhance the natural life cycle of its land, while striving to identify highest and best use 1400 Jack Warner Parkway NE opportunities that will sustain and perpetuate future generations. Tuscaloosa, Alabama 35404 Westervelt Ecological Services (WES), one of The Westervelt (205) 562-5213 MAIN Company’s seven business units, creates enduring ecological solutions for the benefit of its clients and the natural environment. WES’s approach to wetland loss is to focus on restoration of Rocky Mountain natural hydrological and biological processes; its approach to imperiled species conservation Regional Office is to help protect biologically rich corridors and core landscapes. WES works for and with 9800 Mt. Pyramid Ct., individual clients and groups toward these objectives. WES also acquires properties to create Suite 400 mitigation and conservation preserves for clients or to create mitigation banks for wetlands and Englewood, Colorado 80112 conservation banks for species. TEAM ORGANIZATION Southeastern Regional Office WES seeks out land for protection that is often situated in a larger conservation landscape, such as those that buffer public land. WES exercises the highest financial and legal practices to 2128 Moores Mill ensure these banks are, in fact, protected in perpetuity. In addition, WES can rely on its parent Road, Suite B Auburn, Alabama company for additional expertise including engineers, surveyors, natural resource professionals, 36830 legal counsel, etc., to ensure that the highest quality mitigation is performed. Key organizational (334) 821-1999 MAIN attributes include: (334) 821-1969 FAX • Extensive team experience in the process of planning and obtaining approvals for mitigation banks. Western • Full knowledge of local natural resources issues, restoration approaches, and public interest Regional Office groups. • Commitment to sustainable solutions via proper site selection and stewardship. 600 North Market Blvd., Suite 3 Sacramento, California 92834 (916) 646-3644 MAIN (916) 646-3675 FAX wesmitigation.com Page 1 PROJECTS IN THE SOUTHEAST The following projects in the southeastern United States demonstrate the team’s success in mitigation bank development tasks, including planning, permitting, implementation, and monitoring. Yellowleaf Mitigation Bank Yellowleaf Mitigation Bank is a compensatory mitigation alternative for stream and wetland impacts within a mitigation service area located Southeast of Birmingham. The 547-acre site is located between Birmingham and Childersburg, Alabama in eastern Shelby County along a portion of Yellowleaf Creek. Aside from restoring lost wetland and stream functions, the site is managed to protect the triangular kidneyshell and southern clubshell (two extremely rare and endangered mussel species), the southern Pigtoe and Fine-lined pocketbook (two other federally protected mussel species), the Alabama spike (a State protected mussel species), the cylindrical lioplax snail (federally protected species)and the Cahaba lily (species of special concern). Big Sandy Mitigation Bank Big Sandy Mitigation Bank is a 1,060-acre stream and wetland mitigation bank located in the Ridge and Valley Region of Eastern Southeastern Regional Office Tuscaloosa County, Alabama. The Bank protects the floodplain and approximately four miles of Big Sandy Creek, a major 2128 Moores Mill tributary to the Black Warrior River and one of the most scenic Road, Suite B rivers in Alabama. The Bank also provides buffer land for adjacent Auburn, Alabama 36830 Talladega National Forest, demonstrating WES’s commitment to finding properties with larger conservation value. (334) 821-1999 MAIN (334) 821-1969 FAX Pensacola Bay Mitigation Bank wesmitigation.com Pensacola Bay Mitigation Bank is a 1,205-acre site located in Santa Rosa County, Florida, and contiguous to the Florida Forever Acquisition Area called the Garcon Ecosystem Preserve. The Garcon Peninsula contains some of the best pitcher plant prairies remaining in Florida and the Florida Forever Garcon Ecosystem project is charged with protecting and expanding these prairies. The carnivorous white-topped pitcher plant, a State endangered plant species, is located and protected within the mitigation bank. The project makes a significant contribution to the viability of the Garcon project by increasing the size of the preserve by approximately 15% and also contributes significant acres to the Gulf Coastal Plain Ecosystem Partnership. Page 2 St. Marks Mitigation Bank Designated as a “Group A Project” for acquisition and restoration on the 2008 Florida Forever Priority List, St. Marks Mitigation Bank is an ecological diamond in the rough that WES is working to restore to its primitive Florida splendor. This 1,450-acre wetland site straddles the Jefferson and Wakulla County lines in an ideal location adjacent to a vast assemblage of conservation lands alongside the St. Marks and Aucilla River drainages. Substantial portions of the bank site include areas identified as potential rare species habitat. In addition, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) has recently listed the area as critical habitat for the flatwoods salamander. This bank will serve as compensatory mitigation for projects which impact flatwood, prairie, and hardwood wetlands. Chickasawhay Conservation Bank Chickasawhay Conservation Bank, a 1,230-acre site in Greene County, Mississippi, provides a place to both relocate displaced torteses and offer habitat mitigation for the federally threatened gopher tortoises in Mississippi and western Alabama. It is the first gopher tortoise bank authorized with the USFWS. Since the Bank’s approval in 2009, the site has welcomed several relocated gopher tortoises and currently supports a thriving population due to an intrinsic link between the species and the longleaf pine ecosystem that is present on the property. Southeastern Regional Office The longleaf pine habitat is biologically diverse and is considered by most to have declined by 2128 Moores Mill approximately 97%. This decrease has contributed to a similar decline in the gopher tortoise Road, Suite B population, reducing the western portion of its range by more than 80%. The Bank lies entirely Auburn, Alabama 36830 within the threatened range of the species and is located on each side of the Chickasawhay River, providing habitat to two major areas for the species. In addition, the Bank’s location provides (334) 821-1999 MAIN (334) 821-1969 FAX buffer habitat to adjacent federal and State properties. wesmitigation.com Alabama River Mitigation Bank In 2013, WES received approval for the 971.1 acre Alabama River Mitigation Bank. The site has a unique landscape position within the Alabama River Basin. It is part of the Alluvial/Deltaic Plain physiographic region, with ecology and geomorphology historically influenced by the Alabama River. Alabama’s Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Strategy (2005) states in its discussion of the Alabama River Basin that one of the highest priority conservation actions is to improve water quality and habitat quality throughout the basin and to support habitat and riparian restoration. This project meets this conservation action. Additionally, WES is participating with the ADCNR and USFWS for the release and reintroduction of two mussel species, the Orangenacre Mucket, Hamiota perovalis (Conrad, 1834), within a section of Tallatchee Creek on the site. Page 3 Canoe Creek Mitigation Bank Located in the Coosa River Basin in St. Clair County Alabama, Canoe Creek Mitigation Bank is a 237 acre project that permanently protects a portion of Little Canoe Creek. As part of the project, WES will restore 132 acres of wetlands and approximately 6,374 linear feet of stream and riparian buffer. Wetland restoration on Canoe Creek Mitigation Bank will include the following habitat types: hardwood forested, riparian hardwood forested, and hardwood forested slope. These efforts meet conservation actions specified in the Alabama Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Strategy (2005), to “improve water quality and habitat quality throughout the basin” and to “support habitat and riparian restoration.” In addition, the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources has identified the Coosa River Basin as “the largest and most biologically diverse sub-watershed of the Mobile River basin in terms of overall number of fishes, mussels and aquatic snails.” The basin is home to 147 fish species, including a number that are unique to the Coosa River basin. Among these are the Pygmy Sculpin, Holiday Darter, Coosa Darter, and the Coldwater darter. Locust Fork Mitigation Bank Locust Fork Mitigation