The Revolution Wind Project proposes to construct an offshore wind farm in federal waters off the coasts of Rhode Island and Massachusetts. VHB is leading a team in the development of the Construction and Operations Management Plan (COP) and leading the effort to secure state environmental permits. In addition to the extensive documentation of offshore natural resources in support of the COP filing, the documentation of natural resources within the onshore components of the project have been critical.
As part of the onshore biological resource assessment, VHB biologists conducted Presence/Probable Absence acoustic bat surveys targeting Nothern Long-eared Bats (NLEB) within the onshore project footprint. The surveys were conducted in accordance with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) Rangewide Indiana Bat and NLEB Survey Guidelines and included five survey locations that targeted potential flight corridors within suitable summer habitat. Call data was scrubbed of non-bat calls, attributed with metadata, and auto-classified using USFWS-approved auto-classification software. Titley Scientific provided QA-QC of high frequency calls that were manually vetted. Results were submitted to the USFWS and the methodology, survey results, field forms, and figures documenting the survey locations were compiled into a report that will be used to facilitate the Section 7 Consultation under the Endangered Species Act which will be led by Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.
