WITHDRAWN: Critical Habitat Assessment Using HEP Modeling in ROW Corridors

Publisher Summary Increasingly, a key component of development of, or expansion within, a transmission line right-of-way (ROW) is keyed into a determination of the presence or absence of local, state or federal Threatened and Endangered (T&E) species within or adjacent to/proximate to the corridor. The use of the Habitat Evaluation Procedure (HEP) developed originally by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for determination of Habitat Suitability Indices (HSI) was adapted and used to determine the locations of critical habitat used by several threatened and endangered wildlife species. This method uses quantitative field measurements based on the behavior and life requisites of the individual T&E species to determine the suitability of right-of-way habitats for the species under evaluation. In addition, the method permits “screening out” of habitat areas and types that do not provide the life requisite components required by the species under evaluation. In this way, habitats that contain some or all of the species' requirements are separated from habitats that do not possess the important requirements of evaluation species. This method has been employed for both wildlife and plant species on a number of right-of-way projects and provides a quantifiable basis for evaluation of siting and routing studies in addition to providing sensitive species management options for corridor expansion programs.