WAPA SNR On-Call Biological Support Services
Project Specifications
Client: Western Area Power Administration (WAPA) Sierra Nevada Region (SNR)
Location: Alameda County, Butte County, Calaveras County, Contra Costa County, Frsno County, Glenn County, Merced County, Modoc County, Placer County, Sacramento County, San Joaquin County, Shatsa County, Siskiyou County, Solano County, Sutter County, Tehama County, Trinity County, Tuolumne County, Yolo County, Yuba County
Services: Biological Resources
Western Area Power Administration (WAPA) Sierra Nevada Region (SNR) performs a wide variety of operations, maintenance, and construction related activities within its electrical transmission line rights-of-way (ROW) and related infrastructure. All activities require environmental review, clearance, and coordination to ensure compliance with federal and state laws and regulations. Aspen is providing on-call biological support services to assist the WAPA SNR will all aspects of biological resource compliance and management for routine operations and maintenance activities as well as individual projects. The SNR regional footprint extends from Bakersfield in California to northern Nevada and southern Oregon, traversing through federal, state, and private land. WAPA SNR owns, operates, or maintains 69-kilovolt (kV), 115-kV, 230-kV, and 500-kV transmission lines; several distribution lines; substations, communications sites, maintenance facilities, transmission line access roads, and rights-of-way.
Aspen has provided biological preconstruction surveys, flagging of sensitive resources, and monitoring of WAPA’s integrated vegetation management (IVM) in accordance with the Environmental Assessment for the North Area Right-of-Way Maintenance Program. Resources include aquatic features and associated riparian habitat, elderberry shrubs to protect valley elderberry longhorn beetle, giant garter snake aquatic and upland habitat, California red-legged frog potential breeding habitat, California tiger salamander potential breeding habitat, western pond turtle habitat, nesting MBTA birds and birds of prey, northern spotted owls limited operating periods, burrowing owl and burrowing owl habitat, Swainson’s hawk surveys, rare plant surveys, aquatic resource delineations, reporting, and permit application preparation. Surveys support WAPA environmental compliance prior to mastication, herbicide treatments, tree removal, and other vegetation management activities as well as access road grading, culvert replacements, and road improvements.