Environmental Assessments for Airport Improvement Projects, FAA
SAGE has prepared Environmental Assessments (EAs) for the Federal Aviation Administration for airport traffic control tower construction and instrument landing equipment installations at airports in Utah, Idaho, Colorado, California, Nevada, Alaska and Arizona. The EAs required the assessment of the projects with respect to 18 impact categories which evaluate various construction, land use, natural resource, ecological, environmental quality, historical/cultural, aesthetic, and socioeconomic impacts. Several sites involved additional studies relating to wetlands, historic site contamination and the assessment of visual impacts.

Environmental Assessment for Agricultural Research Center, HDR Architecture/USDA
As a subcontractor to HDR Architecture, SAGE prepared an Environmental Assessment and Phase I Environmental Site Assessments for a new Agricultural Research Center which was a collaborative project of the USDA Agricultural Research Service and the Utah State University (USU) College of Agriculture. The project included the planned construction of an on-campus laboratory/office and a research greenhouse on agricultural cropland at the north end of the USU campus. The site was evaluated with respect to NEPA prescribed ecological, environmental, cultural, and socioeconomic criteria. SAGE concluded that the project warranted a Finding Of No Significant Impact (FONSI) with some minimal mitigation measures to be implemented during construction.

Categorical Exclusion Documentation, Salt Lake City Department of Public Utilities
SAGE prepared Categorical Exclusion documentation for two Salt Lake City Department of Public Utilities projects. The first project involved replacement of the covers on the three primary anaerobic digesters at the Salt Lake City Water Reclamation Facility. Replacement of these covers would increase capture of methane gas, decreasing greenhouse gas emissions and increasing power generation at the facility. SAGE established that the proposed action would not significantly affect the environment and that it qualified for a Categorical Exclusion under the EPA’s NEPA implementing regulations.

The second project was a Bureau of Reclamation funded project to upgrade the Big Cottonwood Tanner Ditch Company culinary water system and convert an open ditch to pressurized irrigation. This action would result in a significant water savings by reducing loss from seepage and evaporation. The project involved the installation of a new pipeline and the change of use of a historic canal system. SAGE conducted wetlands and biological surveys and coordinated a cultural resource survey on the canal system. The documentation resulted in a finding of no significant impact and concurrence from the Bureau of Reclamation to proceed with the proposed action.

Document Preparation Services / Administrative Record Organization for Draft Resource Management Plan / Environmental Impact Statement, BLM Richfield, Utah Office
The Draft Richfield Field Office Resource Management Plan was compiled over six years by a team of resource specialists.  SAGE was presented with the individual pieces of the RMP and tasked with performing final document review, including technical and grammatical editing, assuring content consistency, and formatting and merging the constituent parts to produce a publication-ready 900 page document.

After publication of the Record of Decision and Resource Management Plan, SAGE also organized the administrative record for the RMP. This project involved organizing and scanning of hard copy documents, designing a Microsoft Access database and the cataloging and database entry of approximately 2,200 documents.

Visual Impact Assessments, Palm Springs and Tucson International Airports, FAA
SAGE prepared Visual Impact Assessments (VIA) to evaluate the effects of replacing existing airport traffic control towers (ATCT) built in the 1950s and 1960s with towers more than twice their height. The VIAs included descriptions of the existing visual/aesthetic character of the surrounding area and identified sensitive receptors (residential areas, parks, and recreational areas) and viewer groups. We visited the areas identified as sensitive receptors or as containing sensitive viewer groups, analyzed the viewsheds and visual screening and created photo comparison studies of the potentially affected viewsheds.