Habitat Restoration



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				LSA Associates, Inc. has helped clients plan cost-effective habitat restoration projects, satisfy mitigation requirements, and achieve their mitigation goals since the early 1980s. After more than 25 years of designing, building, and monitoring successful restoration projects, LSA knows how to help clients, regulators, and resource agencies find mutually satisfactory solutions. LSA’s restoration work includes wetlands (such as tidal salt marshes, vernal pools, freshwater and brackish marshes, and seasonal ponds), riparian habitats, coastal sage scrub, other scrub habitats, sand dune communities, desert vegetation, grasslands, and woodlands. Projects range in size from a few hundred square feet to hundreds of acres. Since many of LSA's plans are components of development projects, LSA effectively interfaces native plant revegetation with more formal landscapes and fuel management zones. With a large multidisciplinary staff, including wildlife biologists, botanists, wetland scientists, native plant horticulturalists, arborists, hydrologists, engineers, and soil scientists, LSA maintains in-depth knowledge of local habitats and how to restore them. Our team develops habitat objectives that comply with regulatory and site requirements, develops restoration plans that fit the client’s budget and schedule, obtains necessary permits, and develops final construction plans and specifications. We also oversee implementation and monitor the success of projects over time, correcting problems and gaining experience that supports future projects. SERVICES INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING: Preparation of mitigation (or restoration) and monitoring plans Consulting with regulatory and resource agencies Developing specifications for planting and weed control Collecting seeds and other native plant materials Training planting crews and maintenance personnel Evaluating problems with planting and irrigation systems and developing corrective measures Determining appropriate soil amendments and erosion control measures Monitoring during construction to ensure compliance with the mitigation (or restoration) plan Monitoring the success of the mitigation (or restoration) plan
				REPRESENTATIVE PROJECTS:
				Sonoma County Airport Wetland Mitigation Bank Sonoma County, California LSA designed and constructed a vernal pool mitigation bank at the Sonoma County Airport in Santa Rosa, California. Construction was performed by Hanford ARC. Bank users pay Sonoma County a per-acre fee for the right to use airport buffer lands for fulfilling off-site Section 404 vernal pool mitigation obligations. A total of 4.5 acres of new vernal pool habitat were successfully constructed by LSA in 1999 on the14.5-acre site. LSA also transplanted the federally listed plant species Burke’s goldfields into the site’s new pools. Five years of monitoring have verified that this species has become successfully established on the site, and all constructed pools are functioning well. Additionally, in 2000 and 2001, LSA designed and constructed a new 10-acre, Phase 2 expansion of the mitigation bank onto adjacent Airport lands. Phase 2 pools are currently being monitored by LSA biologists.
				Newport Coast Riparian Habitat Creation Program Irvine Community Development Company Newport Coast, California LSA was under contract to the Irvine Community Development Company (ICDC) to assist with creation of riparian habitat in two constructed drainage courses located within the Pelican Hill Golf Club. Approximately 2,700 linear feet (averaging 33 feet in width) of riparian habitat were installed in 1993. The upland benches were planted with coastal sage scrub species. LSA designed and monitored the installation of this mitigation, which was a condition of the Coastal Development Permit and Corps Section 404 permit for the Newport Coast Planned Community. LSA biologists monitored the mitigation sites and their maintenance until the performance standards were met in 1998. The canyons now contain fully functional riparian habitat, with high canopy cover and pockets of ponding water dominated by cattails. The mitigation site is a healthy and well-developed wetland exhibiting natural stream dynamics, with a heterogeneous vegetation structure providing habitat for a variety of wildlife species.
				San Joaquin Marsh Habitat Enhancement Plan City of Irvine, Irvine Ranch Water District, and The Irvine Company Irvine, California LSA pulled together eight years of previous studies and planning, competing conservation interests, mitigation credits with performance deadlines and environmental impact documentation for the successful adoption of the San Joaquin Marsh Enhancement Plan and certification of the Environmental Impact Report (EIR). LSA worked with multiple public agencies at all levels of government, competing conservation and academic research interests, Orange County’s Irvine Company habitat mitigation obligations, and one of the few remaining marsh wetlands in Southern California to complete a planning process for a restored marsh habitat in the center of urban Orange County. The marsh is enjoyed by thousands of visitors each year and over 200 species of wildlife. LSA assisted the City of Irvine and the Irvine Ranch Water District by preparing the EIR and finalizing the San Joaquin Marsh Enhancement Plan. Estimated at a cost of $6 million, the restoration was completed in 2002. LSA provided the following services: Master Plan and EIR Multiple Public Agency coordination Habitat mitigation bank planning Degraded habitat restoration plans Habitat for 200 species Cooperative association of the City of Irvine, Irvine Ranch Water District and the Irvine Company $6-Million restoration project plan
				Corte Madera Ecological Reserve Tidal Wetlands Restoration Project Colden Gate Bridge Highway and Transportation District Corte Madera, California LSA prepared a jurisdictional wetland delineation, conducted biological studies including rare plant surveys, and prepared a Biological Assessment to address potential impacts on federally and State-listed threatened and endangered species. LSA also assisted the Golden Gate Bridge Highway and Transortation District with regulatory agency consultations, preparation of an Initial Study/Mitigated Negative Declaration, and regulatory permit applications. The removal of a publicly accessible trail, necessary for the protection of the clapper rail and its habitat, was compensated for by the provision of 4,300 linear feet of public access easement along the western and northern boundaries of the project site. Approvals or actions to implement the project are needed from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, BCDC, USFWS and NMFS, BCDC, RWQCB and CDFG.
				Newport Coast Planned Community The Irvine Company Newport Coast, California Over the past 15 years, LSA has worked with The Irvine Company to analyze the development of one of their most visible projects, Newport Coast. The Newport Coast is a hillside area consisting of over 9,000 acres in unincorporated Orange County, between the cities of Newport Beach and Laguna Beach and adjacent to the Pacific Ocean. The Newport Coast area has been under development in phases over the past 10 to 15 years, with several of the projects being started and/or completed within the last five years. This type of development has required a phased and tiered environmental approach to compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act and several State and federal resource asgencies’ requirements. LSA’s environmental documentation began with the Environmental Impact Report on the Master Plan in the Newport Coast Planned Community, followed by subsequent EIRs, Negative Declarations, and Addendums as distinct phases of development within the Planned Community. In addition to CEQA documentation, LSA has prepared natural resource assessments, the implementation of mitigation measures, and mitigation monitoring. Currently, LSA’s cultural resources staff is conducting Section 106 compliance efforts for 18 archaeological sites located within the Newport Coast area. Overall, LSA has acted as an on-call environmental consultant to The Irvine Company for the development of the Newport Coast project area, which is their most valuable property in Southern California.
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