Tag Archives: Habitat Restoration and Mitigation

Landscape Architecture

Dudek’s landscape architects design ecologically based places using our in-depth understanding of science and design and through effective public outreach. We provide creative, engaging, low-maintenance, cost-effective landscape architecture solutions considering environmental systems, ecological principles, public agency regulations, and sustainable design.

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5 Helpful Steps to Negotiate the Best Permit Conditions for Every Project

Construction delays, tied-up bonding capacity, and extraneous years of site mitigation, monitoring, and maintenance are just a few of the consequences of poorly considered and negotiated permit conditions. Conversely, a thorough, thoughtful permitting strategy can save you time and money. Dudek Habitat Restoration Practice Director Mike Sweesy offers five tips on how to tailor a

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Buena Vista Creek Restoration Improves Ecosystem Services and Fosters Community Stewardship

Throughout California, riparian habitat and water resources are threatened by the effects of climate change and continued population growth. Buena Vista Creek in Oceanside, California is one such place. The creek has been highly fragmented due to development and contains engineered creek segments, which has degraded native habitat, decreased native riparian and freshwater wetlands, and

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Protecting Plants while Protecting the Planet: Approaches to Bolster Narrowly Endemic Plant Species

To address and reverse global effects caused by a rapidly changing climate, various industries have emerged that are leading efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions though alternative energy production. However, sometimes alternative energy projects which are focused on issues global in scale, run into issues protecting sensitive narrow endemic plant species at the local scale

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How to Effectively Assess Bridge Shading Impacts

The effect of shade cast by new bridge construction is often considered a permanent impact, when it could be permitted as temporary. This discrepancy increases mitigation costs and unduly burdens county Public Works department budgets. Effective site assessment to determine expectation of in-situ recovery and persistence of self-sustaining habitat can justify temporary impacts, saving your

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Middle Martis Wetland Project Restores 60 Acres of Meadow

After decades of road and rail development obstructed the natural habitat of the Middle Martis wetland, Dudek and our native habitat construction subsidiary Habitat Restoration Sciences Inc. (HRS) worked with the Truckee River Watershed Council to restore the area to a lush meadow of native wildlife. The wetland restoration at the 60-acre site in the

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How to Restore Aquatic Habitat to Increase Fish Populations

Restoring California fish habitat is crucial to maintain native fish species as anadromous and other native fish populations decline in California rivers and streams. Drought conditions have exacerbated competition for dwindling water resources, increased aquatic habitat degradation, and contributed to invasions of non-native fish species. Fish and other aquatic species require specific habitat for all

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In-Lieu Fee Programs Offer “Win-Win” Compensatory Mitigation

In-lieu fee (ILF) programs present a desirable option to both project permittees and local resource conservation districts (RCD) for offsetting wetland impacts. An ILF program matches the permittee’s compensatory mitigation need with an RCD’s charter to be the on-the-ground leader for conservation efforts in their local community. In-Lieu Fee Program Advantages An ILF program can

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Re-Establishing Native Host Plants to Recover Butterfly Populations Along the Southern California Coast

Volunteer habitat rehabilitation efforts in drought-stricken Southern California have proven helpful in recovering butterfly populations threatened by weeds, which have crowded out butterfly host plants. Host plant re-establishment represents just one aspect of full habitat restoration, but without preservation efforts on the Palos Verdes Peninsula (Peninsula), extinction of two rare subspecies of blue butterflies—the El

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Tahoe Creek Restoration Project Wins Award

The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency has awarded Dudek and its subsidiary, Habitat Restoration Sciences (HRS), the Best in Basin award for the firm’s work restoring Lower Blackwood Creek. Restoring native habitat was needed to correct over a century of disturbance that severely degraded the creek, a critical spawning area for rainbow trout living in Lake

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