Restoration & Conservation
Planning & Studies
ICF International has an extensive history of working collaboratively with
clients to plan, design, develop, and implement innovative
ecosystem restoration and habitat conservation solutions. Understanding what a habitat once was, is, and can be establishes the context
for effective ecosystem management. At ICF, we understand the importance
of
- Balancing restoration and management actions with physical, biological,
land use, jurisdictional characteristics, and stakeholder concerns
- Harmonizing habitat and species conservation with human population growth
To our ecosystem restoration work, we apply a holistic approach, successfully
integrating dynamic physical and ecological processes to restore self-sustaining
and functioning freshwater, estuarine, marine, and terrestrial habitats.
To our habitat conservation work, we apply the scientific principles
of conservation biology to create biologically viable solutions to conserve
target species and habitats. We specialize in projects and habitat conservation
plans (HCP) that:
- Apply the latest imagery, mathematical models, geographic information
systems (GIS) modeling, and other innovative techniques
- Include corridors and ecological processes needed to support sustainable
populations of target species of wildlife, fish, and plants
- Comply with all levels of government regulation—Endangered Species
Act (ESA), Clean Water Act, California Natural Community Conservation Planning
Act (NCCPA)
ICF Restoration & Conservation Services
- Ecosystem and habitat restoration
- Habitat conservation planning
- Watershed planning and implementation
- Ecosystem habitat modeling
- Hydrology and hydraulic analysis and modeling
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- Design and engineering
- Regulatory permitting compliance
- Construction plans, cost estimates, and oversight
- Monitoring and adaptive management
- Response to climate change
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Selected Restoration & Conservation Clients
- U.S. Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center
- Bureau of Reclamation
- U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
- National Park Service
- CALFED Bay-Delta Program—State of California and federal agencies
participating in Bay-Delta Accord
- Oregon Department of Forestry
- California Department of Transportation
- San Francisco International Airport, California
- Contra Costa, San Bernardino, and Santa
Clara Counties, California
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- City of Santa Cruz, California
- Santa Clara Valley Water District, California
- San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, California
- King County, Washington
- Southern California Association of Governments
- Georgia Pacific West, Inc.
- Pacific Gas and Electric
- The Irvine Company
- National Heritage Institute
- The Nature Conservancy
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Selected Restoration & Conservation Projects
Multispecies Conservation Strategy
CALFED
ICF was retained by CALFED, a consortium of 10 federal and five California
state agencies, to assist in the preparation of a Multispecies Conservation
Strategy (MSCS). Working closely with federal and state agency staff,
ICF developed an MSCS that supports compliance with the federal and
state ESAs and an NCCPA and serves as a state programmatic Natural Community Conservation Plan (NCCP) and
a programmatic federal Biological Assessment.
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Lower Colorado River Multispecies Conservation Plan (MSCP)
Bureau of Reclamation
ICF was retained by the steering committee of the Lower Colorado River
MSCP to assist in the preparation of a conservation plan for the Lower
Colorado River, a biological assessment for federal activities covered
under the MSCP, and an HCP for nonfederal activities covered under
the MSCP. The MSCP is designed to provide compliance with the ESA over
a 50-year planning horizon for 35 partners, including the U.S. Bureau
of Reclamation; the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS); the state resource agencies; water and
power authorities for Arizona, California, and Nevada; and the Lower
Colorado River Basin Indian Tribes.
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Botanical and Biological Surveys and Assessments
U.S.
Marine Corps Air
Ground Combat Center
ICF has a 10-year On-Call contract to perform
natural resource-related services for Marine and Navy bases in the
western United States. The Navy has awarded four task orders to ICF to
perform Mohave ground squirrel surveys, chuckwalla lizard surveys,
and surveys for rare, sensitive and endangered plants, all within the
boundaries of Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center.
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Point Reyes National Seashore Coastal Watershed Restoration Project
National
Park Service (NPS)
As part of its overall mission to protect and preserve natural resources,
NPS initiated the Point Reyes National
Seashore Coastal Watershed Restoration Project to restore watershed
functions and facilitate movement of at-risk fish species to an upper
watershed spawning habitat. ICF was retained by NPS to conduct technical
studies; develop, compare, and assess alternative conceptual designs;
and prepare contract documents for nine sites located in Point Reyes
National Seashore, California.
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Bay Area Operations and Maintenance HCP
Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E)
ICF prepared an HCP, environmental impact statement (EIS), and associated implementation-planning documents
for PG&E's operation and maintenance (O&M) activities in the San Francisco
Bay Area, California. The HCP covered over 80 species for 33 routine O&M activities
for PG&E's electric and gas transmission and distribution systems within
nine counties of the Bay Area. The
HCP covered activities associated with the O&M, and minor construction
of PG&E's gas and electric transmission and distribution system as
mandated for public safety.
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East Contra Costa County HCP
Contra Costa County, California
Contra Costa County partnered with ICF to prepare a joint HCP/NCCP,
associated EIS and environmental impact report (EIR), and implementation agreement for the eastern half
of Contra Costa County (175,000 acres). Rapid urban development had
led to conflicts with endangered species and their habitat. The
HCP/NCCP prepared by ICF provided comprehensive coverage for endangered
species compliance to local agencies and regional private landowners.
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Airport Runway Reconfiguration Project Mitigation Program
San Francisco
International Airport (SFO), California
With the help of ICF, SFO prepared
an ambitious mitigation plan that would restore habitats and tidal
marshlands throughout San Francisco Bay as mitigation to potential
reconfiguration of the airport runways. To compensate for potential
adverse environmental effects associated with runway reconfiguration
construction activities, ICF developed an innovative planning and design
approach based on identifying and restoring the physical and biological
processes necessary to create fully functioning marsh ecosystems.
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Master Plan for Big Pond Park
Bahamas Ministry of Works and Transport
As part of a broader Environmental Management Plan for the New Providence
Road Improvement Project, ICF proposed the development of the Big Pond
Park site into a community park. ICF suggested conservation of the
ecological features of the Big Pond site and provision of a community
natural/recreational area as an offset for some of the environmental
impacts and land take that would result from other components of the
road project. On approval of this proposal by the Government of the Bahamas, ICF prepared
the original design for Big Pond Park, including the 2001 Implementation
Plan. More recently, ICF has been contracted by the Government of the
Bahamas to update the design and implementation plan for the Big Pond
Park to reflect development surrounding the site since 2001.
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