Environmental Assessment

As part of the Environmental Assessment effort for the Reconstruction of Runway 8-26 at Rafael Hernandez Airport, MARLIN was retained to conduct Wetland Delineation, Traffic Study, and to lead the federal and State interagency coordination in compliance with FAA NEPA Process.

The Methodology

The wetland delineation work included measuring current wetland status over the proposed area to be impacted by the reconstruction. Evaluation criteria used were those required for an official jurisdictional wetland determination regulated by the US Army Corp of Engineers (USACE). The methodology employed for this study consisted of an overall assessment of existing literature and geographic maps to determine potential presence of jurisdictional wetlands within the project area regulated by Section 404 of the Clean Water Act, under USACE’s jurisdiction. A detailed screening analysis was performed using the Geographic Information System (GIS) tools, aerial photographs, and a field evaluation by wetland specialists. The evaluation was focused on identifying attributes that are required criteria for wetland areas, such as (1) hydrophytic vegetation; (2) hydric soils; and (3) hydrological conditions (inundated or saturated).