As a core component of our business, Rocky Mountain Environmental (RMEA) provides a host of services related to Permit Applications, Inventories Analyses, Physical Analyses, Natural Factors Analyses, Wildlife Habitat Inventories, Site Planning, and Landscape Architecture. This particular blog will focus on Permit Applications, Inventories Analyses, Physical Analyses, Natural Factors Analyses, and Wildlife Habitat Inventories. Next blog will cover Site Planning and Landscape Architecture.
Permit Applications
RMEAhas prepared permit applications to federal, state, and local agencies for work on environmentally sensitive sites. Most often these applications are submitted to the Corps of Engineers for filling wetlands and to Idaho Department of Water Resources for work in the channels of rivers, streams, and creeks. RMEA has also appeared before the Teton County (both Idaho and Wyoming) and Blaine County, Idaho, Planning Boards to facilitate permitting in these jurisdictions. RMEA will prepare applications and assemble all supporting documents necessary for project approval. This may include delineations, impact assessments, alternative analyses, design drawings, mitigation and monitoring plans. Most important, RMEA has the expertise to assist in designing projects that meets our clients’ needs while reducing regulatory burdens. Often these simple design changes can mean the difference between an easily approved project and one that is subject to more exacting review.
Inventories Analyses
– Physical Analyses
– Natural Factors Analyses
– Wildlife Habitat Inventories
Local planning authorities have been requiring wildlife habit assessments as residential development encroaches and fragments wildlife habitat. RMEA has performed site evaluations for wildlife utilization by big game ungulates, large carnivores, fur-bearers, and avian wildlife. Reports typically include measures to mitigate and enhance habitat opportunities as a result of specific development proposals. We recommend that these assessments be performed before any major commitment is made on site development plans. The most easily approved plans are those that respond to local planning goals and ordinances for wildlife protection. Some localities are requesting more comprehensive inventories of physical and natural factors site rather than just an assessment of habit opportunities. The goal is to make land-use decisions that respond to site conditions rather than dominate or obliterate the natural character of a project site. Following the principles of the legendary Ian McHarg, RMEA will prepare comprehensive site inventories describing geology, hydrology, topography, soils, vegetation, and wildlife. Based on this analysis, recommendations will be made regarding site opportunities and constraints to promote site development that is a marriage of nature and human use.