Lisa Gaines

Manager’s Guide to the Integrated Ecological Framework

This publication is intended to help transportation and environmental professionals apply ecological principles early in the planning and programming process of highway capacity improvements to inform later environmental reviews and permitting. Ecological principles consider cumulative landscape, water resources, and habitat impacts of planned infrastructure actions, as well as the localized impacts. This guide provides a high-level overview of how to use the Integrated Ecological Framework (IEF), a nine-step process for use in early stages of highway planning, when there are greater opportunities for avoiding or minimizing potential environmental impacts and for planning future mitigation strategies. Success requires some level of agreement among stakeholders about prioritizing resources for preservation or restoration. Such agreements rely on considering long-range environmental planning as a companion to long-range transportation planning so that there is a basis and methodology for prioritization. This guide provides a structured, collaborative way to approach these issues.

Ecological Assessment Process and Credit System for Highway Capacity Projects

This Strategic Highway Research Program capacity project (C06B) study developed a cumulative effects and alternatives assessment (CEAA) process for highway capacity projects within an integrated ecological and transportation planning framework called the Ecological Assessment Framework. This framework created tools to support the principles of Eco-Logical: An Ecosystem Approach to Developing Infrastructure Projects. Existing ecological assessment and ecosystem crediting tools were surveyed and assessed, and a new template for cumulative effects and alternatives analysis was developed. The resulting process includes methods for enhancing data needed to reach early agreement with regulatory agencies under the Endangered Species Act and the Clean Water Act. Guidance for developing function-based ecosystem crediting tools to meet regulatory requirements and to promote environmental stewardship goals is also provided. The CEAA process was piloted in three states to compare results between the new method and traditional methods. Initial results and case studies show that integrated ecological and transportation planning can expedite capacity project delivery and improve environmental outcomes. The CEAA process and supporting tools, case studies, and data sources will be integrated into the new Transportation for Communities: Advancing Projects Through Partnerships website.

Valuation and Crediting Approaches for Transportation and Metropolitan Planning Agencies

Measurement and crediting tools for ecosystem services are important to the processes of transportation planning and project implementation because these tools can aid in mitigating environmental impacts by reducing transaction costs, improving environmental outcomes, and shortening the time needed to implement projects. Because of this importance, such tools have been identified as a key step in the Eco-Logical framework to integrate transportation and conservation planning, characterized by a SHRP 2 capacity program study as the Integrated Ecological Framework. Currently, throughout much of the United States, there are no straightforward methods for the creation of transportation-centric crediting programs. However, successful programs in California, North Carolina, Oregon, and Washington have developed approaches cooperatively with regulatory agencies, state and nongovernmental conservation programs, those actively involved in mitigation banking, and agencies or organizations that fund restoration activities. An overview of crediting systems and valuation methods and their use at various scales in transportation planning are presented in this paper. Current projects and programs are evaluated to identify the opportunities and the obstacles that transportation organizations may encounter when attempting to implement a crediting program.