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Virginia Natural Gas Pipeline
Clinch Mountain Wildlife Management Area
Russell and Smyth Counties, Virginia

Showcases:
Carson-Suffolk-Thrasher Transmission Lines
Virginia Gas Company
Hayes-Yorktown 230kV Line

Williamsburg Environmental Group, Inc. (WEG) has provided a multitude of services for The Virginia Gas Company on a variety of projects throughout the Commonwealth.  These projects have included advanced planning and constraints analysis for a 400-mile intrastate transmission line, complete environmental permitting for a 57-mile transmission line (in addition to the preparation, submission, and coordination of a memorandum of agreement (MOA) to facilitate completion of the Section 106 process; Phase I activities were completed following permit issuance but in advance of pipeline installation), complete environmental permitting for a 7-mile connector line joining the Patriot Line, and support for numerous individual crossings and maintenance activities.  Services, among others, have included detailed wetland delineations, regulatory coordination and permitting, as well as threatened and endangered or rare species surveys.

One of these projects involved a planned pipeline that encompassed a 3.5-mile section of mountain habitat within the Clinch Mountain Wildlife Management Area in southwestern Virginia.  WEG's focus for the project was to inventory and assess the corridor for habitat relative to Natural Heritage plant species designated by the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, Division of Natural Heritage (DCR-DNH).  These species included: Atlantic camas (Camassia scilloides), Blue-Eyed Mary (Collinsia verna), Fringed Phacelia (Phacelia fimbriata), Browneyed Susan (Rudbeckia triloba var. pinnatilobate), golden eye saxifrage (Saxifraga careyana), Guyandotte beauty (Synandra hispidula), and American vetch (Vicia americana ssp. americana). This habitat survey for Natural Heritage plant habitat was conducted via complete ground reconnaissance of the entire corridor with a focus on identifying and characterizing habitat that is considered rich cove forest or high elevation rock outcrops; such are considered appropriate habitat types for the target rare species. Two (2) surveys were conducted in summer months and all flora encountered along the corridor were noted.  The flora, along with analysis of edaphic features, community structure, moisture regime, among others was used to access potential Natural Heritage habitat. Potential Natural Heritage habitat was identified in portions of the proposed corridor.  The results of this work were presented in a detailed report describing the target plants and habitat preferences, natural community classifications, and detailed digital habitat mapping.  This project highlights WEG's ability to accurately characterize and identify Appalachian Mountain habitat and flora, diligent fieldwork in rough terrain, and sound reporting of technical findings under agency scrutiny.

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