Excellence Celebrating
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
ECOLOGICAL AND BIOLOGICAL CONSULTING SERVICES STATEMENT OF QUALIFICATIONS 32CelebratingYearsof Excellence CERTIFIED GREEN BUSINESS ECOLOGICAL AND BIOLOGICAL CONSULTING SERVICES STATEMENT OF QUALIFICATIONS PREPARED BY EMC Planning Group 301 Lighthouse Avenue Suite C Monterey, CA 93940 Tel 831.649.1799 Fax 831.649.8399 [email protected] www.emcplanning.com september 2010 1.0 ECOLOGICAL AND BIOLOGICAL CONSULTING SERVICES EMC Planning Group is a full-service land use and environmental planning firm located in Monterey, California. Established in 1978, the firm is celebrating its 32nd year of providing land use and environmental planning and design services to public and private clients throughout California. Services include the following: . Community Planning; . Municipal Staff Support; . CEQA/NEPA Compliance; . Climate Change; . Ecological and Biological Services; . Land Planning & Design Services; and . Permitting and Regulatory Compliance. EMC Planning Group personnel have extensive training and experience in land use and environmental planning laws and procedures and offer a diverse range of professional and technical expertise to assist our clients in coordinating and obtaining development approvals in a cost- and time-efficient manner. We have found that by maintaining open communication and working in close coordination with our valued clients throughout the environmental resource assessment and regulatory compliance process, we can regularly help them achieve their project objectives – specifically, by facilitating the design of practical, timely, cost-efficient and legally adequate solutions to complex environmental challenges. emc planning group inc. As a value-added component to our environmental planning and permit compliance services, EMC Planning Group offers our clients a wide range of specialty biological/ecological services. We prepare biotic resource assessment reports, environmental compliance document sections, wetland assessments and preliminary jurisdictional delineations, as well as conduct special status focused surveys for sensitive plant and animal species. Additionally, our firm offers consultation and permitting services for regulatory agency permitting programs, as well as consultations involving state and federal endangered species regulations. EMC Planning Group has performed ecological work in many California counties, including Monterey, Santa Cruz, San Benito, San Mateo, San Luis Obispo, Merced, Stanislaus, and Fresno. Our firm’s lead biologist has worked on biological projects in Alameda, Santa Clara, San Mateo, San Francisco, Sonoma, San Joaquin, Contra Costa and Riverside counties, as well as in Oregon, Washington and Nevada. A representative sample of our Ecological Services clients include: cities, counties, and special districts, as well as private property owners and developers. EMC Planning Group’s Ecological and Biological Consulting Services Statement of Qualifications describes the different ecological and biological services provided by our firm, includes representative projects, and provides brief biographical background information on the personnel who perform our services. Ecological Services EMC Planning Group biologists and environmental technicians have assisted clients in complying with all aspects of state and federal threatened and endangered species regulatory compliance on both large and small projects, from conducting baseline biological habitat characterizations for individual private land owners, assisting with formal Section 7 ESA Consultation for clients, to preparing and coordinating complex regulatory permitting schedules for large energy infrastructure projects. Our botanists have had direct experience with a broad range of plant community and/or habitat types including: maritime chaparral, oak woodland, redwood forests, vernal pool wetlands, native grasslands, seasonal wetlands, riverine and lacustrine systems, tidal estuaries as well as desert ecological and biological consulting services habitats. We evaluate botanical site conditions, factoring the area’s soil compositions, micro-climate effects, topography, and consider the underlying biotic and human influences that can affect plant community and species composition. EMC Planning Group’s biologists and environmental technicians have established a reputation for working with our clients during the initial stages of project planning to help identify controversial issues upfront and propose achievable, effective avoidance and minimization strategies prior to the implementation phase of their projects to save time, reduce costs and expedite project approvals. By incorporating this pro- active impact avoidance philosophy into our ecological client support services, we have found that we are able to provide project proponents with technically sound, appropriately detailed technical compliance documents that can withstand legal and regulatory scrutiny. By working to identify potential constraints early in the scoping process, EMC Planning Group has been able to help our clients avoid delays to the projects schedule and earn early regulatory buy-in. EMC Planning Group’s biologists have a proven record of preparing, negotiating and obtaining permit approvals from state and federal regulatory agencies on various sized projects by providing our clients with adaptive, innovative solutions to their environmental compliance challenges. EMC Planning Group’s biologists and environmental science professionals accomplish this by being client-focused, by providing technically-sound, conservative resource analysis and judgment, and by establishing a level of trust with regulatory agency staff through open communication and transparency, so that we are able to advance our clients projects through the regulatory approval process, on budget and ahead of schedule. Our Ecological Services Include: . Preparation of Biological Reports and Maps, and Evaluation of Existing Reports and Management Plans; • Biotic Resources Assessments and Impact Analyses; . Compliance with CEQA and NEPA Regulations; . Wetland Assessments and Delineations; . Special Status Species Surveys; . Environmental Regulations - Consultation, Permitting and Compliance; • State and Federal Endangered Species Act Compliance; • Clean Water Act Compliance; emc planning group inc. • California Department of Fish and Game Streambed Alteration Agreement Compliance; • Vegetation Monitoring Planning and Site Monitoring; and . Pre-Construction and Mitigation Monitoring. Preparation of Biological Reports and Maps, and Evaluation of Existing Reports and Management Plans The complexity, scale, and duration of a project and its potential to impact the envi- ronment factor into determining the appropriate level of environmental compliance documentation necessary to advance a particular project through the environmental review process. All of the reports produced by EMC Planning Group during the conduct of the previously described services may also be prepared as stand-alone documents or as an individual component of a larger-scale environmental program intended for a particular project. All reports described contain a corresponding level of mapping that provides a visual description of the findings. Biotic Resource Assessments and Impact Analyses Biotic resource assessments are conducted to determine if special status species or sensitive habitats are present on a project site, and if resource agency permits are required for a proposed project. Biotic resource assessments include a reconnaissance- level site investigation of a particular project site in order to identify existing habitats and biotic resources on the project site, and to determine the potential for special status wildlife and plant species to occur on the project site. A background data search is conducted prior to the site investigation to determine the potential for special status species in the vicinity of the project site. This background information is obtained from the numerous regulatory sources, including the California Department of Fish and Game’s Natural Diversity Database and Special Animals and Special Plants lists, the California Native Plant Society’s Inventory of Rare and Endangered Vascular Plants of California, the USFWS’s National Wetlands Inventory (NWI) database and site specific species occurrence lists generated by the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service regional field headquarters. ecological and biological consulting services After the field evaluation visit has been conducted, a biological report of findings is prepared and includes the following information: the results of the background data search and field investigation, an analysis of the subject projects potential to impact sensitive biological (plant and animal) resources, makes conclusions and provides recommendations, proposes mitigation (if required), and identifies future permits necessary to implement the project, should they be required. This service also includes technical peer review and outside evaluation of biological resource documents prepared by others to determine document(s) adequacy, assess impact analyses, to support the development of effective mitigation measures, and/or update or revise previously prepared or outdated environmental documents, as may be necessary. Compliance with CEQA and NEPA Regulations Documents prepared in compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) require analysis of potential impacts to biological resources as the