The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service awarded Natural Resources Consulting, Inc. (NRC) a contract to conduct aerial Bald and Golden Eagle nesting surveys in Alaska.  NRC will be supporting the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in their efforts to compile and organize historical and contemporary nesting records in the Matanuska-Susitna (Mat-Su) Borough.  The Mat-Su Borough is one of the fastest growing areas in Alaska.  The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has contracted with NRC for support in organizing and supplementing their eagle nesting data for the Mat-Su Borough in order to facilitate more efficient and effective response to issues and potential impacts.  NRC avian biologists will review and compile historical eagle nesting records and supplement these data with new/updated nesting records collected during the aerial (helicopter) survey phase of the project.  Data will be collected using state-of-the art global positioning system (GPS) equipment and managed using ArcGIS.

NRC was selected by the National Park Service Intermountain Region, to support their efforts to complete the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) associated with the Comprehensive Management Plan for the recently authorized Old Spanish National Historic Trail.  As part of this support, NRC NEPA experts and resource specialists provided a variety of services including consultation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as part of Section 7 compliance and prepared resource descriptions and impacts analysis for several alternatives evaluated in the Draft EIS.

Vandenberg Air Force Base, located in southern California, awarded NRC a contract to evaluate existing transmission infrastructure on the base for potential electrocution hazard to raptors.  Raptor electrocution is a growing area of concern for existing and proposed transmission distribution projects and an issue that has implications for compliance with the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.  For this project, NRC biologists will conduct field surveys to characterize the transmission infrastructure, identify high risk structures, and suggest corrective action based on Avian Powerline Interaction Committee recommendations.