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| Vol. 23, No. 9 |
November 10, 2015 |
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In This Issue:
What You Need To Know About Tree Clearing & Compliance with the ESA
Get Your Instream Work Done - TOY Restrictions for Maryland
Possible Changes to the Migratory Bird Treaty Act
One of WSSI’s Own Makes an Appearance in the Washington Post!
Connect with WSSI
Presidential Memorandum: Mitigating Impacts on Natural Resources
What You Need To Know About Tree Clearing & Compliance with the ESA |
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In order to comply with the Endangered Species Act (ESA), no tree clearing can occur between April 15th and September 15th of any year in Virginia - OR - between April 15th and August 30th of any year in Maryland unless you receive concurrence from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) that there are no federally-listed bats on your project site, or that your proposed action is not likely to adversely affect these bats. If you can conduct all tree clearing activities between September 16th and April 14th in Virginia, or between September 1st and April 14th in Maryland, no further coordination regarding federally-listed bats will be required. If you cannot complete your 2016 tree clearing activities before April 15th, or wait to start until after September 15th, you will need to conduct a survey to determine whether or not any listed bats are present. Note that these surveys can only be conducted between May 15th and August 15th. As a result, you may want to consider accelerating your tree clearing schedule to avoid potential construction delays. (Maryland note: Per recent communication with the USFWS Chesapeake Bay Field Office, a final rule is scheduled for December 2015 which is expected to establish a threshold for coordination based on the size of the proposed tree clearing area.)
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Get Your Instream Work Done - Time of Year Restrictions for Maryland |
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Instream work restrictions apply to every waterway in Maryland. For most streams within Central and Southern Maryland, as well as the Eastern Shore, instream construction activities are prohibited by the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) between March 1 and June 15 of any year. However, note that if you are working in a Nontidal Cold Water stream (Class III), the restriction starts on October 1, and Class II waters have restrictions that vary with species presence. Before beginning construction, be aware of your stream use classification and associated Time of Year Restriction period, which is listed as a condition on your state wetland permit.
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Possible Changes to the Migratory Bird Treaty Act |
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On May 25, 2015 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) published a Notice of Intent to prepare a programmatic environmental impact statement to evaluate the potential environmental impacts of a proposal to authorize the incidental take of migratory birds under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA). A number of approaches to outlining the incidental take of migratory birds would be evaluated, including a general, conditional authorization for certain industry sectors. While the home building, public works, and development industries are not sectors initially proposed, the USFWS notes that other industry sectors may be considered in the future – and MBTA comments and conditions have occurred on some wetland permit actions.
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One of WSSI’s Own Makes an Appearance in the Washington Post! |
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We were pleased to find Jeff Monaco, one of our Survey Party Chiefs, in the Washington Post’s Metro section on September 2. Jeff and his crew were performing a bathymetric survey on the Potomac River as part of the Windmill Hill Park Shoreline Rehabilitation Project in the City of Alexandria.
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We put a considerable amount of effort into our newsletters to update our clients, agencies, and friends with what is happening in the world of natural & cultural resources, and there’s a lot of activity between editions of Field Notes. Please follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram to be a part of the conversation, find out what’s happening in the regulatory world, see what’s happening at WSSI, or just look at some cute office dog photos to make your day go faster!
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Presidential Memorandum: Mitigating Impacts on Natural Resources |
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President Obama is promoting the use of mitigation to offset natural resource impacts and encouraging investment in mitigation banks. The White House released an overview of the initiative in a Presidential Memorandum on November 3, citing moral and economic obligations and stating “American ingenuity has provided the tools that we need to avoid damage to the most special places in our Nation and to find new ways to restore areas that have been degraded.” The Administration is backing the support with a directive to federal agencies to “seek to encourage advance compensation, including mitigation bank-based approaches,” and to encourage investment in advance compensation through policies that are predictable and “wherever possible… should operate similarly across agencies and be implemented consistently within them.”
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About Wetland Studies and Solutions, Inc. (WSSI):WSSI is the leading provider of natural and cultural resource consulting services in the Mid-Atlantic. The firm has worked on a total of over 5,000 projects, comprising 220,000 acres, and has created hundreds of acres of wetlands and restored miles of streams. Our team of 100+ engineers, scientists, archeologists, ecosystem technicians, GIS/survey/compliance and technology/training specialists, and administrative staff yield a unique combination of disciplines focused on wetlands and water resources and provide creative solutions for integrating the constraints of economics and land plan requirements with local, state, and federal environmental regulations. For more information about WSSI, visit our website at www.wetlandstudies.com. |
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