Regulatory Expertise

Permitting requires extensive knowledge of governmental rules, regulations, statutes, and guidelines. Federal, state, regional, and local agencies have different, extensive, and sometimes conflicting requirements that must be met before each individual agency will approve a project.

Meeting Requirements

Long standing working relationships with Resource Agency staff allows Sage to successfully anticipate and meet their requirements early on, maintaining project schedule and budget. Upfront pre-consultation meetings with the Resource Agencies allow us to develop consensus on project implementation, monitoring and mitigation, ensuring environmental needs of the project are met efficiently.

Planning and Negotiation

We have direct experience in negotiating with the Resource Agencies to address appropriate and cost-effective avoidance and minimization methods to avoid impacts to sensitive species, as well as any loss of waters issues. We also have direct experience in construction-phase biological monitoring and offsite mitigation to ensure the Resource Agency obligations are met seamlessly.

Permitting Applications

Sage has the capability to address project-related permitting requirements, including initial preparation of permit applications, all necessary environmental documentation, conducting meetings with agency staff to negotiate reasonable permit conditions, and appearances before agency boards and governing bodies, including public presentations.

Sage assists with resource agency coordination to expedite the acquisition of the necessary regulatory permits. Regulatory compliance experts prepare and submit permit application packages and all requisite support documentation to acquire applicable regulatory permits; including:

• US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Clean Water Act Section 404 permit
• US Fish and Wildlife (USFWS) Section 7, Endangered Species Act
• California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) Section 1602 Lake and Streambed Alteration Agreement
• Regional Water Quality Control Board (RWQCB) Section 401 Water Quality Certification