NSR Wins Three Federal ID/IQ Contracts

NSR is a prime contractor under three major indefinite/indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contracts with federal agencies.  In June 2007, we were awarded a multi-year ID/IQ contract for planning services with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers-Sacramento District.  NSR currently holds additional federal multi-year IDIQ contracts with the U.S. Forest Service-Pacific Southwest Region, and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation- Mid-Pacific Region.

NSR Sponsors the First Annual Northern California Botanists Symposium

The Northern California Botanists held their first annual symposium in Chico, California, on January 18 and 19, 2007.  The symposium, titled The Interface between Research and Management in Northern California Botany, featured two days of presentations by guest speakers related to rare plant conservation, vegetation management, revegetation and restoration, invasive species, recent northern California botanical discoveries, professional ethics, and the roles of professional botanists.   NSR co-sponsored the event with 10 conservation groups and resource management agencies. Colby Boggs, NSR's senior botanist and an officer of Northern California Botanists, helped organize the event and served as a session chair.   Len Lindstrand III, NSR's Terrestrial Biology Program Manager, gave a presentation on recent Shasta snow-wreath discoveries.   The symposium was attended by more than 200 people and was considered very successful.   Look for this to become an annual event.

NSR Wildlife Biologist Publishes Paper on Magpie Roost-Site Selection

A scientific paper co-written by NSR wildlife biologist Ginger Bolen, Ph.D., has recently been accepted for publication in the Wilson Journal of Ornithology.   Entitled Vegetative and Thermal Aspects of Roost-Site Selection in Urban Yellow-Billed Magpies, the paper documents research performed in the Sacramento area on eight urban communal roost sites.   It was found that the magpies studied roosted in both cultivated and native species.   The roosting sites had a consistently high percent canopy cover and were generally located in or near riparian corridors.   The magpies were found to roost in relatively warm microhabitats, but they did not appear to gain a thermal advantage by roosting communally.   Scott P. Crosbie, doctoral student, University of California, Davis, and Douglas A. Bell, Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences, California State University, Sacramento, were co-authors of the paper.  Dr. Bolen is a widely known expert on the breeding behavior of the yellow-billed magpie, a species found chiefly in California's Central Valley and lower foothills.

NSR Terrestrial Biology Program Manager Publishes Paper on Pacific Fisher

NSR’s Program Manager for Terrestrial Biology Len Lindstrand III recently published a paper describing the results from Pacific fisher surveys conducted by NSR in the area surrounding Shasta Lake, Shasta County, California.   This paper appears in the new Transactions of the Western Section of the Wildlife Society Vol. 42, 2006, and describes how the survey results provide several insights into Pacific fisher habitat use as well as conservation implications.  A reprint of this paper is available upon request.

NSR Terrestrial Biology Program Manager Publishes A New Shasta Snow-Wreath Paper

NSR's Program Manager for Terrestrial Biology Len Lindstrand III recently published another article regarding new occurrences and habitat associations for Shasta snow-wreath in Madrono Vol. 53, No. (1): January-March 2006.   The article is entitled Habitat, Geologic, and Soil Characteristics of Shasta Snow-wreath (Neviusia cliftonii) Populations and describes new sites and habitat information for the Shasta snow-wreath, a rare shrub species representing a new genus in California that was originally discovered only recently in Shasta County.   The majority of these new Shasta snow-wreath discoveries occur within habitats not previously associated with this species; it was considered mainly a limestone associate.

Reprints of this paper are available upon request.

NSR Wins AEP’s 2004 Award for Outstanding Environmental Document

The California Chapter of the Association of Environmental Professionals has selected an NSR document, the Trinity River Bridges Environmental Assessment/Environmental Impact Report, as the 2004 Outstanding Environmental Document – Small Jurisdiction.   The first-place award was presented to NSR at AEP’s Awards Banquet on April 17 in Los Angeles.

Prepared under contract to the Trinity River Restoration Program (TRRP) of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, the EA/EIR analyzed the environmental effects of replacing or modifying four bridges along a 10-mile reach of the Trinity River as part of a river restoration program to benefit endangered and threatened salmon species.   The TRRP and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management were the NEPA lead agencies, and Trinity County was the CEQA lead agency.   The Sacramento law firm Remy Thomas Moose and Manley LLP was also a key member of the project team.

NSR's Terrestrial Biology Program Conducts Successful Surveys for Pacific Fisher

NSR has recently completed surveys for pacific fisher on behalf of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation for the proposed Shasta Dam enlargement project.  The survey effort was initiated during 2003 as a pilot project within two distinct portions of Shasta Lake.   Following fisher detections during the pilot project, the surveys were expanded during 2004 to include the entire Shasta Lake project area, which encompasses approximately 450 square-miles.  The entire Shasta Lake project area was again surveyed during 2005 to gain additional data.  During the surveys, NSR utilized 85 baited remote camera stations to determine the presence/absence of pacific fisher within the project area.  Pacific fishers were detected at 13 locations scattered throughout the Shasta Lake area.   These survey results have shown that pacific fishers occur in an area they were previously not known to inhabit, providing a small "bridge" in the current known distribution gap for the species in California; particularly the area of the northern Sierra-Cascade region east of Interstate 5.  Additionally, these surveys show fishers occurring in habitats not previously known to support the species, and in relatively close proximity to urban population centers.

For information regarding NSR's pacific fisher or other wildlife surveys, please contact our Terrestrial Biology Program Manager Len Lindstrand III at our Redding corporate office.  

Dun & Bradstreet Rates NSR Performance "Very Good to Outstanding"

NSR received the results of an independent Past Performance Evaluation completed by Dun & Bradstreet Corporation.  The evaluation was based on a survey of clients for whom NSR has provided environmental services in the past five years.  We are pleased to report that D&B rated NSR’s overall performance as "Very Good to Outstanding." More specifically, on a scale from 1 to 5 (1=outstanding, 2=very good, 3=satisfactory, 4=marginal, and 5=unsatisfactory), NSR scored 1.27 ("A-") for overall performance.

NSR was rated relative to 7 criteria: timeliness, problem responsiveness, work quality, total cost, level of ongoing service to support purchased product, quantity delivered versus ordered, and attitude of personnel.  Ten of our clients were contacted.   Of the seventy responses obtained (7 criteria x 10 clients), no single score was worse than 2.0 (very good). The projects that were evaluated represent the range of work we do and the clients we serve.   Just about everybody on NSR's staff was involved in at least one of the projects that were evaluated.