Posts Tagged Biology

The US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) has removed the brown pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis) from the Federal List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife due to recovery, effective December 17, 2009. The FWS decision is based on a review of the available data, which indicates that the species is no longer in danger of extinction, or likely to become so within the foreseeable future. The species was first listed as endangered in 1970, under a law that preceded the Endangered Species Act of 1973. The brown pelican will remain protected under the provisions of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. For more information, visit the FWS Brown Pelican Species Profile page.

Photograph by Johnida Dockens, ACS Biologist

The US Fish and Wildlife Service recently reviewed a petition which seeks to protect the Sonoran population of desert tortoise as a distinct population segment (DPS) under the Endangered Species Act. The Sonoran DPS of the desert tortoise occurs predominantly on rocky slopes and bajadas within desertscrub habitats south and east of the Colorado River in Arizona. The finding of the 90-day status review is that the Sonoran desert tortoise may warrant federal protection. However, the determination to list the Sonoran population of desert tortoise, and the level of federal protection warranted, will be made at a later date following a more thorough review of the available biological information.

ACS, subconsultant to the Moore/Swick Partnership, recently completed an exciting research project for the Superstition Area Land Trust (SALT). The fieldwork involved the baseline documentation of existing resources and conditions at Tony Ranch in Haunted Canyon, which hosts a unique middle elevation riparian setting for Arizona. Haunted Canyon is known widely by hikers and birders for its beauty and diversity of plant and animal life. The Tony Ranch property consists of a historic homestead with the remains of the original cabin and other historic features. Together these cultural features form a Rural Historic Landscape that was assessed through this project for its National Register eligibility. Additionally, the fieldwork involved a Class III cultural resource survey, a cultural landscape inventory, biological inventories (flora and fauna), riparian health assessment, and soil and water testing. The cultural survey recorded features associated with the historic homestead, such as the log cabin, property fences, paths, and corrals, as well as agricultural areas that were farmed on the property between 1919 and 1925.

The project area was digitized based off an historic General Land Office Plat from 1919 and a series of maps were made to aid prefield documentation of the Tony Ranch Parcel.  ACS standard geodatabase for GPS field data collection was modified to better streamline the collection of unique features associated with the ranch. A GPS unit with sub-meter accuracy was used to plot the locations of all of features recorded by both archaeologists and biologists and the combined data was integrated in the geodatabase.   Following fieldwork, the data collected from the survey was post-processed allowing for even higher GPS accuracy. These data were used in the production of all the maps that were included in the report.

Victoria Vargas served as the ACS team lead and Cultural Resources Principal Investigator for this project, Tracy McCarthey, ACS Manager of Environmental Services, led the ecological assessment team, Kevin Moore of Moore/Swick served as the lead for the overall project consultant team and the landscape architecture team, and Lynn Miller, Member of SALT ’s Board of Directors and noted landscape architect, was the project coordinator and lead for SALT. You can learn more about the Tony Ranch property and SALT by visiting their website at: http://www.azsalt.org.

ACS, subconsultant to the Moore/Swick Partnership, is currently (Week of May 4, 2009) in the field on an exciting research project to conduct baseline documentation of existing resources and conditions at Tony Ranch in Haunted Canyon, which hosts a unique middle elevation riparian setting for Arizona. Haunted Canyon is known widely by hikers and birders for its beauty and diversity of plant and animal life. The sponsor of this project is the Superstition Area Land Trust (SALT) who recently acquired the property and will be managing and monitoring its resources into the future. The Tony Ranch property consists of a historic homestead with the remains of the original cabin and other historic features. Together these cultural features form a Rural Historic Landscape that will be assessed during the fieldwork for its National Register eligibility. Additionally, the fieldwork involves a Class III cultural resource survey, a cultural landscape inventory, biological inventories (flora and fauna), riparian health assessment, soil and water testing, and the production of the final reports of the research results, including a Cultural Landscape Report (CLR), which will be a collaborative effort between Moore/Swick and ACS, and an ecological assessment and restoration report. Victoria Vargas is the ACS Team Lead and Cultural Resources Principal Investigator for this project, Tracy McCarthey, ACS Manager of Environmental Services, heads up the ecological asssessment team, Kevin Moore of Moore/Swick is serving as the lead for the overall project consultant team and the landscape architecture team, and Lynn Miller, Member of SALT ’s Board of Directors and noted landscape architect, is the project coordinator and lead for SALT. A team of 12 project members from ACS, Moore/Swick, and SALT is currently (week of May 4, 2009) in the field to conduct the fieldwork. Given the remoteness of the property, the research team will be hiking in and camping for four days with helicopter-dropped provisions. You can learn more about the Tony Ranch property and SALT by visiting their website at: http://www.azsalt.org

ACS was one of several firms recently awarded an on-call contract with the City of Phoenix to provide expertise and services relating to Cultural and Natural Resources & NEPA, including Archaeology, Historic Preservation, Biology & Natural Resources, and Clean Water Act & Section 404. ACS has a long and successful history of working with the City of Phoenix and was delighted to be selected for this new contract. ACS also currently serves the City through a five-year Archaeological on-call contract.