Western Placer Unified School District retained ECORP to conduct biological and cultural resource technical studies, prepare California Environmental Quality Act documentation, and obtain regulatory permits for the approximately 56-acre Twelve Bridges High School Project. The Project proposed a high school, including seven buildings, four baseball/softball fields, one football/track field, three new parking lots, and an extension of the existing City library parking lot.
Public School Biological and Cultural Resources Technical Studies
ECORP prepared the Initial Study and Mitigated Negative Declaration for the Project, including conducting a biological resources assessment and cultural resources inventory to support the permit documentation. ECORP also conducted an aquatic resource delineation and special-status plant surveys to support the regulatory permitting process for the Project. Our study delineated one detention pond as an aquatic resource which we submitted to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) as a non-jurisdictional feature, which the USACE verified in an Approved Jurisdictional Determination.
The USACE verified other aquatic features onsite as jurisdictional in a Preliminary Jurisdictional Determination. ECORP prepared applications for a federal Clean Water Act Section 404 Individual Permit, including information to support the Section 404(b)1 Alternatives Analysis, Clean Water Act Section 401 Water Quality Certification, and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW)1602 Streambed Alteration Agreement.
As part of the biological and cultural resources technical studies engagement, ECORP also prepared a Biological Assessment to support Section 7 consultation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) for potential effects to federally listed vernal pool fairy shrimp (Branchinecta lynchi). ECORP provided agency liaison support during the permitting process including negotiating mitigation ratios for impacts to aquatic resources and vernal pool fairy shrimp habitat.
Implementation Monitoring and Agency Reporting
Once we obtained the project’s regulatory permits/authorizations, ECORP provided permit compliance support through Project implementation, including conducting pre-construction surveys, biological monitoring, and agency notifications and reporting.
