By Brian Freiermuth, WRA Senior Wildlife Biologist and Project Manager On December 28, 2021, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) announced through the Federal Register that it is proposing to list 4 of 6 defined Distinct Population Segments (DPSs) of Foothill Yellow-legged Frog (FYLF; Rana boylii) under the Federal Endangered Species Act (ESA). The … Continue Reading »
Markets
New CEQA Statutory Exemption for Habitat Restoration Projects
By Erik Schmidt, Regulatory Specialist Law Provides for Initial 3-year Period with CDFW Oversight California continues to break new ground in efforts to accelerate critical habitat and ecosystem restoration projects with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Statutory Exemption for Restoration Projects (SERP). The exemption is a key part of the California Natural Resources Agency’s … Continue Reading »
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Vacates Some AJDs Processed Under 2020 Navigable Waters Protection Rule
By Bianca Clarke Agricultural reservoir impounding ephemeral waters not considered Waters of the U.S. under 2020 NWPR but may be under the pre-2015 regulatory regime. The U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona issued an order on August 30, 2021 to vacate the 2020 Navigable Waters Protection Rule (NWPR, commonly referred to as the … Continue Reading »
What Is “Blue Carbon”?
By Liz Allen Giant kelp (Macrocystis pyrifera) in Monterey, CA. By now, the concept of planting trees to offset carbon emissions is familiar to most. Through photosynthesis, trees absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to form the sugars they need to grow, offsetting the carbon dioxide pollution in the air. The same concept applies to … Continue Reading »
Acoustic Device Advancement Encourages a Wide Variety of Monitoring Improvements
By Shawn Carroll If a bird chirps in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? WRA is about to find out! In late 2020, WRA avian biologists Shawn Carroll and Nick Wagner kicked off an exciting pilot project by successfully deploying five AudioMoth devices in coastal sage … Continue Reading »
California Regulatory Agencies Propose Updates to Bank Enabling Instrument Template
By Andrew Cawley, Mitigation Banking Specialist This month, the California Project Delivery Team (PDT), the interagency group which oversees statewide mitigation and conservation banking programs, is concluding the public comment period for the updated Bank Enabling Instrument (BEI) template. The BEI template is a document that outlines procedures for establishing mitigation and conservation banks within … Continue Reading »
Steelhead Migration Restored in a Napa River Tributary with Removal of a Century-old Dam
A Look at the Upper York Creek Ecosystem and Aquatic Habitat Restoration Project By Erik Schmidt, Regulatory Permitting Specialist, WRA, Inc. In the year 1900, in the small Napa Valley town of St. Helena, increasing water needs for agricultural and municipal uses prompted the St. Helena Water Company to build a 45-foot high earthen dam … Continue Reading »
Wildlife Impacts and Public Access: Are there unintended consequences of increasing open space visitation?
By John Baas, PhD The Shelter in Place (SIP) order has been in effect in the San Francisco Bay area for nearly three months and has implications for how park, recreation, and open space agencies may need to manage public access in response to wildlife impacts. Last week I saw a juvenile coyote trotting down … Continue Reading »
[VIDEO] People & Projects: Marlene Tyner-Valencourt and the San Dieguito River Valley Conservancy Project
With many people still working from home, the WRA team is finding innovative new ways to stay connected with our clients. One such way is through Zoom meetings – which got us wondering, what else can we use Zoom for? It turns out, it’s a great way to record an interview! You can get to … Continue Reading »
[VIDEO] WRA Celebrates American Wetlands Month, 2020
A special video from WRA CEO, Geoff Smick, in honor of American Wetlands Month. WRA Celebrates American Wetlands Month, 2020 from WRA, Inc. on Vimeo. As part of our American Wetlands Month celebration, we put together a short video on the importance of wetlands, WRA’s history and vision for these critical ecosystems, and a few … Continue Reading »