California Red-legged Frogs Relocated During Emergency Stream Diversion—Elk, CA.

California State Highway 1 took a beating during the heavy rain season of 2018-2019, damaging the foundations of the road and the bridge over Elk Creek—prompting emergency repairs of the scenic route. To prevent further damage and potential failure of these structures, Caltrans contracted with Wylatti Resource Management on the Emergency Scour Repair Project (Project). The Project included placing Rock Slope Protection (RSP) to armor around the bridge piers and creek banks. Placement of the RSP required the installation of a stream diversion to contend with the tidally influenced Elk Creek and the listed species therein. Under contract with Wylatti Resource Management, Gallaway Enterprises worked extensively to conduct daily clearance surveys and biological monitoring for the life of the project to minimize the take of listed species. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) and United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) approved Gallaway Enterprises’ biologists to relocate listed species, including red-legged frogs, to suitable habitat out of harm’s way. Between Point Arena and Elk California, there is overlap between the federally threatened California red-legged frog (Rana draytonii) and the California species of special concern northern red-legged frog (Rana aurora). Thanks to the careful monitoring of Gallaway Enterprises experienced biologists 39 California red-legged frogs, eight adults and 31 juveniles were relocated, with zero mortalities. In addition, Gallaway Enterprises and CDFW performed several days of fish relocation using electrofishing equipment. Species relocated during these efforts included common garter snake (Thamnophis sirtalis), Northern California coast steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss), Prickly sculpin (Cottus asper), Coast range sculpin (Cottus aleuticus), red-legged frog, and Threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus).

Bat Avoidance, Exclusion, and Mitigation

There has been an increase in awareness of declining bat populations across the U.S. Many of California’s agencies are increasing and standardizing their requirements for protecting bats and their roosts. Gallaway Enterprises has been closely following these changes and responding by implementing scientifically appropriate and creative solutions for bat avoidance, exclusion, and mitigation techniques. Gallaway Enterprises is using the latest version of SonoBat acoustic bat detection software to aid in the process of identifying which bat species are present at many of our project sites. SonoBat software can determine species by analyzing calls that have been recorded by our biologists.

Gallaway Enterprises bat specialists stayed busy in 2018 with several bridge replacement and retrofit projects that had large bat maternity colonies roosting within the bridges. Two particularly challenging projects this year were the East Hill Road over Davis Creek Bridge Replacement project in Mendocino County and the Mockingbird Road over Robinson Creek Bridge Replacement project in Lake County. Structure- or bridge-roosting bats were not identified as a species with potential to occur on either project, but were discovered incidentally by Gallaway Enterprises during pre-construction surveys. One bridge was home to a large maternity colony and the other was a bat bachelor roost. Working closely with the contractors, local agencies, and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW), Gallaway Enterprises developed avoidance and minimization measures and a plan for temporary and permanent roost mitigation. For these projects, time was of the essence. Gallaway Enterprises worked quickly to develop the mitigation measures and start consultation with CDFW to ensure minimal construction delays. Measures developed were project-specific and included construction of noise attenuation devices, acoustic and visual monitoring during pile driving, visual disturbance buffers, and the installation of bat exclusion devices to safely and humanely evict bats outside of the maternity season. Gallaway Enterprises bats specialists conducted compliance monitoring and installed exclusion devices at the bridges during the appropriate exclusion windows.

Lastly, Gallaway Enterprises worked with stakeholders to design and construct bat roosting habitat that mimics the pre-project roost temperatures in order to attract a wide arrange of bat species to mitigate the loss of roosting habitat. Boxes were a mix of wooden and concrete design and were strategically mounted to the new bridge structures, as well as, poles around the sites.

Foothill Yellow-Legged Frogs at Harbin Creek

Harbin Hot Springs Resort, once home to nearly 300 residents and employees, has been closed since the Valley Fire evacuation orders in September 2015. The resort community, just minutes outside of Middletown, found itself in the path of the fire and suffered major losses as the majority of the structures present onsite were destroyed.

The timber bridge over Harbin Creek that connects the Harbin Hot Springs Resort to Middletown was burned in the fire, and a temporary bridge was constructed in its place. A new bridge was slated for construction by Bridgeway Civil Constructors in July of 2017. Just before construction was to begin, the foothill yellow-legged frog was listed as a candidate threatened species under the California Endangered Species Act (CESA), giving it full protected status for the duration of its review period and halting construction. Harbin Creek contains a healthy and sustainable population of foothill yellow-legged frog. Though foothill yellow-legged frog populations in Lake County are not in danger of extirpation, the foothill yellow-legged frogs present in Harbin Creek now needed the added protections of a threatened species.

Gallaway Enterprises worked fast to create a frog relocation plan and obtain an emergency Incidental Take Permit in order to get the project underway as soon as possible. The delayed construction led to long hours and weekends building the new bridge, and Gallaway Enterprises biologists were onsite daily to relocate frogs, monitor for environmental compliance, and conduct water quality testing within Harbin Creek. The completed Harbin Springs Road Bridge will contribute to the economic recovery of the area as Harbin Hot Springs Resort continues to rebuild its facilities.

Cultural Resource Services

Gallaway Enterprises is pleased to introduce our new team Archaeologist, Cate Davis and the addition of offering in-house cultural resource services. Ms. Davis has extensive experience with GIS and the collection of field data in order to create professional quality graphics and reports. Ms. Davis graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology from University of Central Florida and obtained a Master of Arts degree in Anthropology from California State University, Chico. Ms. Davis meets the qualifications established by the Secretary of Interiors’ Professional Qualifications Standards and satisfies mandates associated with compliance under Section 106 of the National Preservation Act. Gallaway Enterprises is pleased to provide both public and private clients across northern California with the following cultural resource services:

On-site Monitoring
Property Surveys
Cultural Inventory Reports such as:
- Archaeological Survey Reports/Historic Property Survey Reports
- Cultural Reports in support of CEQA review
- Section 106 National Historic Preservation Act Reports
Site recording, site updates
Native American outreach
Mapping of resources

Stormwater Monitoring Services

Gallaway Enterprises is pleased to announce the addition of our stormwater monitoring services. Gallaway Enterprises is now offering cost-effective, stormwater monitoring for public and private construction projects in northern California. Our qualified storm water inspectors ensure our clients effectively implement their SWPPPs and remain in compliance with the local, state, and federal stormwater regulations. To better serve our clients we now offer the following stormwater monitoring services:

SWPPP Implementation
Site Inspections
Stormwater Sampling and Analysis
On-Site Training for Contractors and Construction Crews
Rain Event Action Plans
Required Reporting to the Stormwater Multiple Application and Report Tracking System (SMARTS)
- Notice of Intent (NOI)
- Change of Information (COI)
- Annual Reporting
- Notice of Termination (NOT)