Environmental Planning & Permits
Our consensus-based approach to project design and associated environmental planning documents helps achieve the overall goal of project implementation, and helps move our clients cost-effectively through the environmental planning and regulatory compliance process with less worry of schedule slips or budget issues. We use this approach to support regulatory compliance in the following areas:
- Endangered Species Take/Collection (including Section 7 & 10 consultation and BAs)
- Clean Water Act Section 401 certification and Section 404 permitting
- Federal levee modification permitting, including Section 408 approval packages and Section 104 federal credit memos
- Lake and Streambed Alteration Agreements (Fish and Game Code Section 1601 and 1603)
- Scientific Collection Permits under ESA Section 10 and the 4(d) Rule
- Wetland delineation and mitigation design and monitoring
- FERC Hydroelectric Relicensing (including preparation of all license components and settlement agreements, as well as AIRs and post-licensing support)
- Sustained yield plans (SYPs)
- Habitat conservation plans (HCPs)
- Documentation and filing of EAs and Initial Studies, pursuant to NEPA and CEQA, including cumulative, climate-change, and growth-inducing impact assessment
Our experience shows that projects are completed most effectively when there are frequent communications between the project proponent and the regulatory agencies, to ensure that project participants stay informed about the project and have ample opportunity to contribute their local knowledge and requirements during the planning phases. In the preparation of environmental planning documents, we see our role as both expert scientist and facilitator – to bring scientifically-defensible data and information to the table while helping the process move forward.
We can provide Environmental Planning and Permitting assistance to Federal agencies through our GSA contract.
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In the preparation of environmental planning documents, we help you as both expert scientist and facilitator.
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On-the-ground, and fast turnaround
So that levee repairs could begin before the rainy season, Stillwater Sciences completed all NEPA compliance documentation, as well as the federal ESA consultation, for five critical levee erosion sites on the Sacramento River in just three months. We mobilized quickly to perform the field work necessary for the regulatory compliance process, and were on-the-ground working closely with engineers to include habitat enhancements (such as woody debris material and shallow water benches) into the levee repair designs to increase suitable habitat for listed salmonids and delta smelt.