Properties that contain natural resources and are proposed for development projects are subject to coordination and/or permitting with regulatory agencies in conjunction with the Clean Water Act, Endangered Species Act, United States Army Corps of Engineers, and Environmental Protection Agency Regulations.  State and local requirements must be taken into consideration.  A site assessment, also known as a red flag survey, can be a useful tool to identify natural resources that may need to be avoided, coordinated, or addressed prior to property purchase, site selection, or design.

EnviroScience offers site assessment services to assist in the development process. Included in this service is an initial review of secondary resource mapping to identify potential resource areas on the site. Biologists then visit and investigate the site to locate and identify any wetlands, streams, or other waters, endangered species habitat, or special aquatic or terrestrial areas that may fall under federal, state or local protection laws. Once the site resources are identified EnviroScience provides a detailed review of the investigation findings along with generalized mapping or other documentation that may be helpful to the client. This also allows EnviroScience to advise clients of potential permitting requirements, coordination timelines, cost estimates for permitting or required surveys, and other issues that may be involved in the development process. In this way clients are aware of any hurdles or restraints that they may face during the development of the property. Site assessments can be customized to the particular needs of the property or generalized to include a full red flag survey.

Biologists identify site resources that may need coordinated with agencies

Wetlands, streams, lakes, ponds and other waters are regulated by state and federal law, and permits are required to impact these water bodies.  Obtaining state and federal wetland permits can be a time-consuming and costly process, and can take up to 1 year to obtain.  As a result of this time-frame, permitting should be addressed early in a project so that it does not slow down the project.  EnviroScience can support you through the entire permitting process. Our staff can assist you in avoiding pitfalls and complete your projects efficiently and successfully. Preliminary site assessments can indicate problematic sites prior to land purchasing. Our state-of-the-art delineation service identifies, delineates, and surveys all jurisdictional waters on the site. This service provides a detailed report of findings designed to satisfy all regulatory requirements and a digital map plan to supplement your engineering and planning objectives. EnviroScience can guide you through the regulatory decision making process and work with you to minimize impacts, creating a cost effective design that meets your development goals. If impacts are unavoidable, EnviroScience has a team of biologists experienced in preparing fill permits and compensatory mitigation projects which satisfy requirements of the EPA and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

EnviroScience staff are trained and experienced in the use of these permits, are up to date on all regulatory changes, and are skilled at communicating with agency reviewers. Our personnel are known and respected in the Buffalo and Huntington District Offices of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, as well as out-of-state regulators throughout the eastern United States.  This allows ES biologists to obtain rapid regulatory approval for projects.

ES personnel have significant experience with the following permits:

Section 404 Permitting

Section 401 Water Quality Certifications

Isolated Wetland Permitting

Wetland Fills

All wetland fill should be authorized by permits

Wetlands Mitigation / Restoration

Wetland mitigation is a term given to the creation or enhancement of wetlands to offset impacts to other systems. When wetlands impacts are unavoidable, wetlands mitigation often becomes a necessary part of obtaining a fill permit. EnviroScience completes all aspects of the mitigation process, either through an approved mitigation bank or other custom designed, solution depending on project requirements.

Mitigation banks are agency approved sites where the wetlands creation and monitoring is handled entirely by a third party. This option can make the mitigation process fast and easy, however, it can be costly and is not available for all circumstances. EnviroScience is aware of all approved mitigation banks in Ohio and will take measures to find the best, most cost-effective facility. If a mitigation bank is not a feasible option or a custom designed wetland is desired, EnviroScience personnel are skilled and experienced in wetland design, creation, and monitoring.

Because of the extremely important functions and values of wetlands and other aquatic systems, municipalities, parks, and individual land owners often attempt to restore or enhance them.

ES biologists wetland restoration planting

The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), signed into law in 1970, establishes Federal policy for consideration of environmental impacts during Federal planning and decision making.   This law seeks to create a balance between humans and the environment by evaluating potential impacts upon the environment while fulfilling the social, economic, and technical agenda of government actions and the reasonable alternatives to those actions.  In addition, this policy requires that potential major Federal action be disclosed to potentially affected parties and any comments or concerns from these parties be evaluated in the decision making process.  The final result is improved Federal decision making.   The Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) oversees and regulates the NEPA process according to CEQs regulations (40 C.F. R. Parts 1500-1508).  Each Federal agency may apply NEPA in accordance with its specific mission.

Following establishment of the Federal agency’s proposed action and the alternatives, these can be evaluated under one of three levels.  These levels include Categorical Exclusion, Environmental Assessment (EA), or Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).  Actions classified under Categorical Exclusion have been established by the agency as having no significant individual or cumulative effect on the quality of the environment or humans.  If the proposed action falls outside of the agency’s definition of Categorical Exclusion or if the agency is unsure if the proposed action will have impacts, an EA or EIS will be prepared.

An EA will be prepared to determine if the proposed action and the alternatives have potentially significant environmental affects.  This process involves affected or concern party participation including Federal, State, local agencies, the applicant and to the extent practicable, the public.  During the preparation of the EA, the agency may alter their action to reduce the potential environmental effects.  The EA process results in either a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) or the preparation of and EIS.

Agencies proposing Federal action which may have significant environmental impacts must prepare a detailed evaluation of the action and the alternatives within an EIS.  This process is more extensive than a Categorical Exclusion or EA and is initiated by filing a Notice of Intent with the Federal Registrar.   The scoping period is initiated by publication of the Notice of Intent and is a time in which the agency and the public establish concerns that shall be addressed within the EIS.  During preparation of the EIS, a full range of alternatives must be evaluated along with the preferred alternative and the no action alternative.  When the draft EIS is available for review, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will publish a Notice of Availability which initiates the 45 day public comment period.  The EPA is required by law (Section 309 of the Clean Air Act) to review and comment for the public record on EISs prepared by other Federal agencies.  Following this comment period, the agency will then address any issues brought forth during the draft EIS period and prepare the final EIS.  A Notice of Availability for the final EIS is published by the EPA and a final 30 day review period is initiated.  The process culminates with a Record of Decision (ROD) made by the agency which describes the alternatives and the final decision on which alternative to follow, and what mitigating measures the agency will take to reduce environmental impacts.

Total Maximum Daily Load Assessements

A TMDL, or Total Maximum Daily Load, can refer to both a numeric water quality criteria, as well as a process by which such criteria are calculated. Considerable regulatory attention is currently being directed toward TMDL development at both the state and federal level. Despite the tremendous progress in cleaning up the nation’s waterways since the Clean Water Act was enacted in 1972, a significant number of the nations waterways are not in attainment with applicable water use designations. The TMDL process is seen by USEPA and the states as a mechanism for bringing these waterways into attainment. In general, a TMDL establishes the maximum amount of a pollutant a water body can assimilate without exceeding the applicable water quality standard.

The TMDL process uses many diagnostic and regulatory tools that have been in use for many years such as chemistry and biota monitoring, modeling, and wasteload allocation. These tools are used and TMDLs are developed for specific stream segments that are in non-attainment of one or more criteria (i.e., chemical, biological). Where the TMDL process differs from past approaches is that it goes well beyond municipal and industrial point source discharges when evaluating causes of impairment and possible solutions. By design, the TMDL process looks at the full range of contributing factors including non-point source pollution, storm water runoff, sediment contamination, agricultural inputs and land use patterns. Public participation is an important component in the development of most TMDLs because many of the most important causative factors for non-attainment are often outside of the direct control of the environmental agencies charged with water quality management.

Please contact the water quality professionals at EnviroScience for more information on how we can provide support for TMDL projects of any size.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has listed two freshwater mussels – the rayed bean and the snuffbox – as endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act. The two mussels are found in river systems in the eastern United States.

The rayed bean is currently found in rivers in Indiana, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and West Virginia, as well as Ontario, Canada. The snuffbox occurs in Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Ontario, Canada.

In its final rule listing the two species under the ESA, the Service pointed to dramatic declines in their populations. The rayed bean has been eliminated from 73 percent of its historical range, and the snuffbox has disappeared from 62 percent of the streams in which it was historically found. The final rule appears in the February 14, 2012, Federal Register.

Threats to both the rayed bean and the snuffbox include loss and degradation of stream and river habitat due to impoundments, channelization, chemical contaminants, mining and sedimentation. Freshwater mussels require clean water; their decline often signals a decline in the water quality of the streams and rivers they inhabit.

The Service will now work cooperatively with partners to develop recovery plans for the two mussels and coordinate efforts to conserve their habitats.

Under the ESA, “endangered” means a species is in danger of becoming extinct throughout all or a significant portion of its range. It is illegal under the ESA to kill, harm or otherwise “take” a listed species, or to posses, import, export or conduct interstate or international commerce without authorization from the Service. The ESA also requires all federal agencies to ensure actions they authorize, fund, or undertake do not jeopardize the existence of listed species.

More information on the rayed bean and snuffbox, including the Final Rule, fact sheets, and frequently asked questions about the listing, can be found at http://www.fws.gov/midwest/Endangered/.

EnviroScience is pleased to welcome Tim Walters, Ph.D., a botanist and ecologist with over 15 years of experience in Midwestern flora and fauna.  Dr. Walters’ experience includes conducting threatened and endangered plant surveys, terrestrial and aquatic plant community surveys, wetland delineation studies, faunal surveys, permitting, mitigation planning, design and monitoring.  For the past ten years, he has been considered one of the most respected botanists in the region.  Dr. Walters has performed wetland delineation studies, functional assessments, rare plant surveys and community ecology assessments on some of the most rare and diverse areas of Ohio, Michigan and Indiana.  He has also completed several fully vouchered floral and community surveys of natural areas and provided management recommendations for several park districts and conservation agencies.  This has included the collection and submission of over 11,000 plant specimens for permanent curation to university and museum herbaria.

Dr. Walters also has experience in monitoring bird, fish and amphibian communities.  Though his doctoral research was primarily in botany, his undergraduate and master’s coursework focused on herpetology, ornithology, mammalogy and wildlife biology.

Dr. Walters is experienced in coordinating with state (Ohio, Indiana and Michigan) and federal (USFWS and USACE) agencies and their evaluation methods (FQI, FQAI, ORAM, VIBI, AmphIBI, HHEI, QHEI).  He maintains many connections in the Toledo area and has been working with the Maumee RAP on many several large scale watershed improvements.   Through this work, his consulting has become a preferred resource for the Ohio EPA and the USACE on many of their projects.

EnviroScience is pleased to welcome Dr. Walters as a valuable addition to its staff.

EnviroScience, Inc. Recognized by Cleveland Plain Dealer as a Top Workplace
CLEVELAND, OHIO (July 5, 2011) – EnviroScience, Inc. was recently honored as one of the top places to work, ranking 6th out of 60 ranked small businesses in Northeast Ohio as listed in the Top Workplaces 2011 awards published by the Cleveland Plain DealerThe Top Workplaces 2011 award holds special significance because the selections are based upon the opinions of the employees. The top companies were ranked by the results of a 24 question survey. Employees’ opinions provided on the company’s direction, execution and communication, career opportunities, working conditions, management and compensation.

“The unique culture we share at EnviroScience isn’t something that the owners made,” said Marty Hilovsky. “It’s something that the employees have created and contribute to on a daily basis. I’m excited about the challenges we have ahead and think we are at the starting point of some really big things.”

The rankings of the Top Workplaces are collected by Workplace Dynamics, an independent company specializing in employee engagement and retention.

EnviroScience, Inc. was also honored with the 2010 Weatherhead 100 award which recognizes the fastest growing companies in Northeast Ohio.

Their team of scientists, environmental consultants, commercial divers and lab researchers are experts in solving various environmental challenges. The employees at EnviroScience Inc. provide commercial diving services, monitor water toxicity, address water quality issues, perform lake diagnostic studies and help control invasive species in lakes and ponds.

For more than 20 years, EnviroScience, Inc. has provided ecological services, aquatic environment studies, and lake management solutions throughout the US and Canada. Recognized for excellence in marine services, ecological restoration and biomonitoring fresh water, EnviroScience, Inc. provides technology, recommendations and solutions to meet environmental needs.

For more information about, call 800-940-4025.

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Lake vegetation surveys are a common component of long-term lake management plans and are vital in determining broad changes to native plant species composition as well as in detecting nuisance species. We are able to determine the best survey method to perform, whether it be an AVAS survey or a Point Intercept survey.

• An AVAS (Aquatic Vegetation Assessment Sites) survey samples the aquatic plant community throughout the littoral zone of the lake. The presence and density of a species is rated to describe its relative percent cover to other species, and sampling transects are marked using differential GPS technology.

A Point Intercept survey documents the overall species diversitythroughout the lake on a grid of waypoints. Plants are identified at each sampling point and the dominant species is recorded to create a species distribution map. This large number of discrete observations creates aprofile on lake-wide species abundance.