Awards

Exemplary Ecosystem Initiatives — 2005

• Arkansas — Ecoregion-Based Approach to Wetlands Mitigation To help mitigate historic wetland loss, a statewide, ecoregion-based mitigation banking system was initiated by the Arkansas DOT in 1996, when a mitigation bank came on-line in the Mississippi Alluvial Plain ecoregion of eastern Arkansas. Four other banks were established over the following nine years, each in one of the five ecoregions of the State.
• California — Coachella Valley Habitat Preservation Initiative As part of a cooperative effort to develop conservation measures and mitigation, State, Federal, and local agencies worked with private partners involved in environmental planning and approval for Caltrans projects to design an ecosystem-based plan to restore and protect critical habitats for threatened and endangered species in the Coachella Valley.
• Florida — GIS Technology Applications In cooperation with resource conservation agencies, the Florida DOT has developed a GIS-based decision model to integrate road improvement projects into habitat management and conservation plans.
• Kansas — Prairie Restoration, Conservation, and Education Initiative With over 650,000 acres of right-of-way, the Kansas DOT implemented a variety of cooperative management and public information activities to restore and promote roadside ecosystems, including the restoration native grasses and other prairie plants along highways in the State.
• Pennsylvania — Ecological Mitigation and Enhancement Projects The Pennsylvania DOT implemented an integrated, ecosystem approach to the management of environmental impacts and mitigation. With input from a broad spectrum of Federal, State, and local agencies, the DOT is building design features into its projects that address important and widespread impacts on natural ecological communities and habitats at a landscape scale.
• South Carolina — Carolina Bays Ecosystem Initiative The South Carolina DOT developed a cooperative effort to protect important ecosystem resources in the Waccamaw River drainage while accommodating the present and projected transportation needs of Myrtle Beach. Land acquisitions and donations were used to preserve, enhance, and maintain an important wildlife corridor connecting large natural areas.
• Washington — Interstate 90 Snoqualmie Pass East Project The Washington DOT partnered with Federal and State resource agencies in developing proposals to meet regional objectives for management of old growth forest habitats and important wildlife corridors in concert with improvements to I-90. This included a habitat linkage study that helped identify critical linkage zones across the highway corridor.
• Wyoming — Moran Junction to Dubois Project Wildlife Crossing Study Concerns with potential habitat fragmentation by the proposed highway improvements resulted in studies by the Wyoming DOT to collect primary data about wildlife crossing zones and wildlife-vehicle collisions. The information collected will be used to identify mitigation opportunities and accommodate wildlife crossings into design plans, based on landscape-level habitat needs.

Questions and feedback should be directed to Marlys Osterhues (marlys.osterhues@dot.gov, 202-366-2052).