Detailed information on the following WSDOT consultation process steps is also available: Project Development and Assignment of a Project Team, Information Gathering, and Project Impact Analysis.
Pre-Biological Assessment Meeting
As part of its efforts to manage or expedite the consultation process WSDOT established a monthly meeting with the Services (NOAA Fisheries and USFWS) where projects can be presented and discussed. These meetings are held in Lacey, and attended by representatives from USFWS, NOAA Fisheries, WSDOT and FHWA. For any given project, both project design staff and environmental staff, including the project biologist, should be present. At these meetings, project designs and impact analysis are presented and methods to reduce impacts to listed species are discussed with the Services, prior to submittal of the project BA to the Services. Large complicated projects may be presented at more than one meeting. The Pre-BA Meeting process is outlined in the WSDOT Pre-BA Meeting Guidance (pdf 25 kb).
Write Biological Assessment and Internal Review
The project biologist documents their analysis and conclusions in one of the following documents: No Effect Letter, Biological Assessment/Biological Evaluation or Programmatic Biological Assessment Form (WSDOT internal use only). For information on No Effect Letters and Biological Assessments see Part 3 of the WSDOT Biological Assessment Preparation for Transportation Projects: Advanced Training Manual (pdf 549 kb). For information on Corps Programmatic Biological Evaluations and WSDOT Programmatic Biological Assessments see part 2 of the WSDOT Biological Assessment Preparation for Transportation Projects: Advanced Training Manual (pdf 2.74 mb).
Before finishing the draft ESA document, the project biologist should coordinate with the project team, to verify appropriate MMs and BMPs have been included in the document. Prior to submitting the document to WSDOT environmental staff for review, the completed draft document should undergo a rigorous internal review to ensure that the document meets WSDOT standards. Once this internal review has been completed, and appropriate revisions have been made, the revised document should be provided to WSDOT for review.
WSDOT Biological Assessment Review to Ensure FHWA Standards
WSDOT will maintain a roster of qualified Senior and Junior biological assessment authors. These authors must have completed a 2-day WSDOT BA training course and passed a qualification exam. Junior authors may work on BAs, but a Senior author must provide oversight and quality assurance of each BA, and ensure that the document produced meets FHWA and WSDOT standards.
Before submitting BAs to the Services (NOAA Fisheries and USFWS) for formal or informal consultation, WSDOT completes an internal sufficiency review of BAs that have been prepared by consultant biologists to ensure that the BAs meet FHWA standards. Completed BAs will be submitted by consultants (Senior authors) to the appropriate WSDOT regional staff for review. WSDOT reviewers use the BA review checklists to determine whether the documents are complete and compliant with WSDOT policies and guidance. These checklists are provided in Part 3, of the WSDOT Biological Assessment Preparation for Transportation Projects: Advanced Training Manual (549 kb). If a document is considered complete, it is forwarded to the Services for consultation. If necessary, the BA will be sent back for correction. BAs can be returned for two reasons: 1) for changes in project description or setting or timing etc, and 2) for deficiencies in meeting WSDOT quality standards and policies, such as incorrectly identifying the action area, incorrectly calculating the zone of noise influence, or for an overall inconsistent BA.
BAs that have been identified as having policy or quality deficiencies will be referred to WSDOT headquarters, Environmental Services Office, for secondary review. If, after this second review, there is agreement that the BA does not meet WSDOT policies and quality standards, the consultant biologist will be given a warning, notified of deficiencies, and asked to correct the BA. After the submittal of two policy or quality deficient BAs, the biologist will be removed from the roster of qualified Senior and Junior authors and must retake the two-day BA qualification course and pass the qualification exam again prior to submitting any other BAs.
Federal Agency Coordination and Consultation Phase
To ensure compliance under Section 7 of the ESA, formal or informal consultation with the Services may be initiated by a federal action agency or by a non-federal designee (for informal consultation only). The level of impact a project is expected to have on listed species or designated habitats, and therefore the type of effect determination that is anticipated, determines the level of consultation necessary (see the table below). For more information on the four types of effect determinations, refer to the WSDOT Biological Assessment Preparation for Transportation Projects: Advanced Training Manual (pdf 409 kb).
Type of effect and level of consultation
|
Type of Effect |
|
Level of Consultation |
| No effect |
NE |
Not needed or informal |
| May affect, not likely to adversely affect |
NLTAA |
Informal |
| May affect, likely to adversely affect |
LTAA |
Formal |
| May have a beneficial effect |
None |
Informal or formal |
If a project will have no effect (NE) on listed species or designated critical habitats, consultation is not necessary. Concurrence from the Services is not required, or normally obtained, but may be requested for project documentation files.
If a project may affect listed species or designated critical habitats, consultation with the Services is required, whether these effects are beneficial or adverse. If it is determined that a project may affect but is not likely to adversely affect (NLTAA) listed species or designated habitats, informal consultation is initiated. An effect determination of NLTAA assumes that project-related impacts will be insignificant or discountable. WSDOT submits BAs to the Services for informal consultation once they have been approved by WSDOT.
If it is determined that a project may affect and will provide a beneficial effect on listed species and designated critical habitats, informal consultation is permitted, but only if there will be no short- or long-term adverse effects. For example, if there will be short-term adverse effects and long-term beneficial effects, formal consultation is required. If it is determined that a project may affect and is likely to adversely affect (LTAA) listed species and designated critical habitats, formal consultation is initiated. For formal consultations, the BA is provided to FHWA by WSDOT. The BA is reviewed by the FHWA Area Engineer and Program Delivery Team Leader as needed and any outstanding project issues are resolved with WSDOT. The BA is submitted to the Services for formal consultation by the FHWA Area Engineer.
Once BAs have been submitted to the Services for review, the documents are reviewed by the Services to determine if clarification of information is necessary to complete consultation. This initial review is completed as soon as possible, but less than 30 days after receipt of the biological assessment and request for consultation. For formal consultations, during this initial review, the Services will also determine whether they agree with the effect determination provided by the action agency.
If additional information or clarification is necessary, coordination between the involved agencies will occur. This may entail meetings, field reviews, or posing and responding to questions in person, via letter, or email. If additional information is requested, WSDOT attempts to return the additional information to the Services within two weeks of receiving the request. Project biologists may be tasked with providing this additional information and should be aware of this two-week timeframe. Responses to information requests for informal consultations will be completed by or coordinated with project biologists by the WSDOT project manager or the WSDOT regional, modal (Washington State Ferries, or WSDOT Rail Office), or Highways and Local Programs biologist. Information requests for formal consultations will be completed by or coordinated with the project biologist by the FHWA Area Engineer and/or Program Delivery Team Leader.
The Services will provide WSDOT and FHWA project staff with their draft incidental take statements, terms and conditions, and reasonable and prudent measures for review. FHWA and WSDOT will prepare a collective response to these draft documents and analysis within two weeks of receiving them from the Services (or within a mutually agreed upon timeframe). Once these conditions have been mutually agreed upon and any disputes resolved, the Services' consultation documentation can be completed.
For informal consultation, a letter of concurrence or a letter of non-concurrence is issued to conclude consultation. For formal consultation, issuance of a biological opinion concludes consultation.
Project Implementation Phase
During project implementation, any impact minimization measures included in the BA must be followed.
In some cases, during the time period between receiving concurrence from the Services and completion of the project, a change in conditions may require reanalysis and may result in stopping construction. For example, there may be a change in the status of a species or critical habitat, resulting in a higher level of protection (e.g., a species undergoes an emergency listing). Or there may be a change in scope or design of the proposed project after construction has begun. Changes of this nature may require construction to be stopped while potential project impacts are reassessed and the consultation process is reinitiated.