Client:
GFL Environmental USA, Inc. Location: Wayne County, MI Prime Consultant: NTH Consultants, Ltd. NTH Budget: $17,000 Project Start: August 2018 Project Completion: Ongoing |
GFL Van Born Road
Wetland Delineation and Conservation Easement Assistance Project Overview
NTH was retained by a regional waste industry client to provide wetland delineation studies and conservation easement research and permit assistance through an on-going master services with planning improvements at a waste industry facility in Michigan. The Van Born Road project comprises of roughly 38 acres of mixed forest and Buttonbush Swamp, adjacent to an existing facility, which was investigated for connectivity and development. With an existing facility and a need to expand to accommodate the growth of the operation, a potentially developable property was identified for further investigation. All potential environmental impacts and risk avoidance opportunities of the property were explored through the completion of a wetland delineation study along with a conservation easement and permit reviews. Project Scope NTH assists a regional waste industry client with wetland delineation study, conservation easement, permitting and compliance at a facilities in Wayne County, Michigan. Services that NTH provide include: desktop review of previous permit applications; desktop review of existing conservation easement with Michigan EGLE; field investigation and wetland delineation; coordination with EGLE. Staring with an investigation of the proposed property, a desktop review and search started with the MiWaters portal, through the Michigan EGLE. The review searched for any information available on the property; including past studies, permit applications submitted and approved, and any changes to the property through those permits. Additionally, a review of all historic aerial photographs was reviewed for seasonal fluctuations of surface water, if any, and where that surface water was located on site. Taking the information ascertained through the desktop review, an onsite wetland delineation and study was conducted. In order to complete a wetland delineation and determine, if and to what extent wetlands are present on the property, three criteria are considered. Those criteria include hydrology, hydric soil conditions, and presence of wetland plants at each sample location. At each sample location that shows signs of hydrology (i.e. high water mark, leaf stain, moss line, etc.), two sample pits are dug to determine the presence of hydric soils and determine the transition from wetland conditions to upland conditions. Then a survey, sampling the vegetation present, to determine if wetland species are the dominant species is completed to delineate between wetlands and uplands. These steps are repeated over multiple time to lay out the perimeter of any wetlands present, and then mapped to determine the acreage of wetlands and upland habitat on the site. In addition to the desktop review and wetland delineation, NTH provided a review and coordination of the existing conservation easement, and an environmental risk assessment of the property. |
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