|
King Mountain Sand and Gravel Mine Ecological Resources Assessment
<br />Page 21
<br />9.0 REPORT PREPARERS
<br />MICHAEL G. FIGGS, President, LREP, Inc.
<br />Natural Resources Planner, Ecologist
<br />PROFESSIONAL INTEREST
<br />Mike's professional interest is in developing and implementing land and resource planning and
<br />management that is consistent with sustainable environmental and ecological practices. To be
<br />successful this goal must, of necessity, be integrated with diverse and sometimes conflicting
<br />community interests. A critical objective is to address each resource and planning issue in its
<br />larger ecological setting and context, as opposed to restricting the issue to narrow analysis, which
<br />tends to lead to arbitrary results and constrain conservation, management and mitigation options.
<br />Mike has twenty-six years experience in natural and cultural resources management, land use
<br />planning and public policy. Public sector experience includes municipal, county, state and
<br />federal governments, and private sector experience includes property owners, developers,
<br />corporations, environmental organizations, civic and neighborhood organizations, and
<br />homeowners associations. Management of natural and cultural resources includes inventory and
<br />baseline documentation, development of public planning policies, management plans, impact
<br />analysis and mitigation. Resources inventoried and documented include geology and minerals,
<br />hydrology, vegetation (including plant communities, threatened and endangered species, noxious
<br />weeds, forestry and wildfire hazard), wildlife, cultural and agricultural, scenic, recreation, and
<br />land use (including land use planning and land conservation).
<br />RELEVANT PROJECTS
<br />Baseline Inventories and Monitoring Projects
<br />Mika has developed numerous baseline inventories and monitoring projects, [he results of which
<br />have been incorporated into regulatory agency planning processes. One example is an ongoing
<br />twenty-five year study of nesting golden eagles, prairie falcons, and peregrine falcons in [he
<br />Colorado Front Range. Information from this study has been incorporated into the Colorado
<br />Division of Wildlife data base, the Environmental Resources Element of the Boulder County
<br />Comprehensive Plan, and Colorado Department of Transportation and City of Boulder planning
<br />processes. This study has been a key element in the resolution of conflicts between recreational
<br />rock climbing and the protection of nest sites in Boulder, Jefferson and Lorimer Counties.
<br />Mike has conducted numerous breeding bird censuses in varied habitat types in Colorado, and
<br />monitored year-round bird populations in many areas of the Northern Front Range. He currently
<br />is participating in a breeding bird monitoring program in Rocky Mountain National Park that is
<br />coordinated by the Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory. He also is a founder of the Indian Peaks
<br />Four Season Bird Counts, which effort has been monitoring high altitude bird populations since
<br />1981.
<br />Dowe Flats Project, Cemex
<br />For nineteen years Mike served as environmental studies project manager for this mine and
<br />reclamation project in Boulder County. During this period Mike supervised specialists in the
<br />fields of natural and cultural resources, developed management recommendations for 2,500 acres
<br />of land, and collaborated with project engineers, corporate managers, and regulatory agencies.
<br />Mike also helped design and execute a five year winter raptor study on 4,000 acres of land in
<br />order to assess the impacts of mining and reclamation on the Bald Eagle, Golden Eagle,
<br />Ferruginous Hawk, Red-[ailed Hawk and their prairie dog prey base.
<br />Other recent wildlife impact assessments include
<br />
|