The Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT), the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) have recently completed a programmatic consultation under section 7 consultation of the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The consultation addresses all currently known transportation projects anticipated to affect Preble’s meadow jumping mouse (Zapus hudsonius preblei) in the Monument Creek watershed, El Paso County, Colorado. It establishes a mitigation process largely divorced from individual projects. Instead of compensating for impacts to habitat with conventional mitigation methods of replacing, restoring or creating habitat based on ratios, programmatic conservation commitments focus on promoting recovery of a listed species. Also, by establishing protocols for developing subsequent projects and site-specific biological assessments, the programmatic process provides a framework for developing highway projects along predictable schedules.

In 1999 and 2000, the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) gathered a variety of environmental information along US Highway 24 east of Colorado Springs. CDOT mapped wetlands, plant communities, wildlife corridors and habitat of imperiled species using a combination of photo interpretation and field delineation onto Mylar overlays over aerial photography. Data on sensitive species and cultural resource data were gathered using traditional survey methods. Subscription data for Colorado was purchased using corridor funds. All of the information was entered into CDOT’s Geographic Information System (GIS). CDOT evaluated the process of collecting and storing data early in the project planning process and examined its utility for streamlining the environmental process while maintaining or improving environmental compliances. CDOT also evaluated the wetland mapping process for accuracy and its use as a potential substitute for jurisdictional wetland delineations. CDOT found that aerial photography, although potentially costly, can be a powerful tool for the identification and location of environmental resources early in project planning. GIS provides an efficient way to store, retrieve, share and analyze information on an immediate and long-term basis. Electronically stored data can provide a solid baseline from which a variety of analyses, such as impact assessments, can be completed. Other possible applications include evaluation of transportation alternatives, identification of mitigation strategies and cumulative impact assessments. Because of the power inherent in this type of data collection, CDOT will continue to develop the corridor evaluation process. Costs of remotely gathered data can be high, therefore, data gathering efforts need to be focused on specific objectives, and a corridor wide environmental database needs to be carefully designed. CDOT presented a poster session that described this process, their results and how CDOT hopes to implement this process in the future on other corridors.

The Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT), on behalf of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), is in the process of conducting programmatic section 7 consultations on the Canada lynx. CDOT divided Colorado into eight consultation units where lynx habitat and highways intersect. A programmatic is nearing completion for one of the units; others will be developed in order of priority. The programmatic builds on the idea that the highest conservation needs for lynx, such as structures that allow it to cross roads, are not necessarily located within project limits. The programmatic therefore identifies locations that form the greatest barriers to movement, develops conservation measures for those areas, and provides agreements between the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), FHWA, and CDOT to implement those measures. To assess barriers to movement and other conservation needs, CDOT, with the assistance of the remote sensing unit of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and the FWS, constructed a GIS-based model of lynx habitat. The model is designed to identify likely movement corridors and their intersection with roadways. It was assembled using detailed watershed-based vegetation maps (developed by the US Bureau of Land Management and the Colorado Division of Wildlife), digital elevation models, as wells as slope and aspect data. The process yielded several potential corridors. Their intersection with roadways was verified on the ground. CDOT then developed design recommendations for structures that connect lynx movement corridors across a highway. When constructed, these crossings will compensate for impacts associated with highway projects in the consultation unit and form the basis for a programmatic section 7 consultation.