Dairyland Power Cooperative recently rebuilt a 161 kV transmission line within the Black River floodplain in La Crosse County, WI. To minimize impacts to floodplain wetlands and waterways and state-threatened wood turtle and state-endangered and federally-proposed eastern massasauga rattlesnake, we implemented a mitigation and conservation plan that included low-pressure amphibious utility vehicles, small helicopters, a large heavy-lift air crane heli

1. Avoiding and Minimizing
Wetland and Wildlife Impacts
in the Van Loon Bottoms
During Powerline Construction
Sara Viernum, Wildlife Biologist

2. Project Description
• Dairyland Power Cooperative (DPC)
• Not-for-profit Electric Generation and Transmission Cooperative
• Rural Electrification in four states – WI, MN, IA, IL
• Headquarter La Crosse, WI
• Regional Touchstone Energy Cooperative Partner

3. Project Description
• Rebuilt 161 kilovolt (kV) Electric Transmission Line
• Transmission line was built in 1950; 65 years old
• Need of rebuild
• Old structures
• Power and fiber optic outages due to failing structures
Original Structure

4. Project Description
• Rebuilt 161 kV Electric Transmission Line
• Fall 2015
• 13 miles total
• 3 miles within Van Loon Bottoms
– Black River floodplain in La Crosse County
– 0.9 miles USFWS Upper Mississippi National Wildlife and Fish Refuge
– 0.3 miles WDNR Van Loon Wildlife Area
– 1.8 miles private lands

5. Van Loon Bottoms
DPC ROW
USFWS
WDNR
Stantec

6. Project Description
• Rebuilt 161 kV Electric Transmission Line
• Uplands: 69 H-frame steel structures 500-700 feet apart
• Wetlands: 28 Y-frame steel structures 600-800 feet apart
• 3-mile Black River Floodplain
– 22 Y-frames installed with heavy-lift helicopter
– Only 65 feet of existing 80-foot right-of way used
New Y-frames

7. Impact Concerns
• Wetland Impacts
• Soil disturbance and compaction
• Species Impacts
• Eastern Massasauga (Sistrurus catenatus)
• State endangered; Federally proposed
• Wood Turtle (Glyptemys insculpta)
• State threathened
• Loggerhead Shrike (Lanius ludovicianus )
• State endangered
• Bell’s Vireo (Vireo belli)
• State threatened
• Cerulean Warbler (Setophaga cerulea)
• State threatened
©WDNR

8. Mitigation and Conservation
• DPC, AECOM, Stantec, USFWS, and WDNR
• Project-specific Mitigation and Conservation Plan
• Incidental Take Permit
• Eastern massasauga
• Wood Turtle
• Avoidance
• Loggerhead Shrike
• Bell’s Vireo
• Cerulean Warbler

9. Mitigation and Conservation
• Based on:
• Desktop reviews of recent aerial photography
• Discussions with USFWS and WDNR
• Habitat observations from previous field visits
• Alternative analyses –
• Relocating to CapX Project
• Three alternative routes
– Hwy 35 Route
– Seven Bridges Route
– Galesville Route
» Impacted more residences
» Increased line length
» Substantially more costly
» Greater environmental impacts

10. Wetland Mitigation
• Wetland Impact Minimizations
• Amphibious UTVs
• Foot Travel
• Helicopters
• Temporary Matting
• Around new structures only
• No transmission structures placed in waterbodies
• Impact monitoring by onsite Stantec Environmental Inspector,
WDNR Biologists, and USFWS Biologists

11. Wetland Mitigation
• Foot Travel
• Minimize soil disturbance and compaction
• Amphibious UTVs
• Argo, Hydratrek, and Marsh Master
• Transport personnel and small equipment
• Low ground pressure rubber tracks or tires
• Minimize soil disturbance and compaction
– Limited traffic in ROW to single access paths
up to 12ft wide

12. Wetland Mitigation

13. Wetland Impact Avoidance
• Helicopters
• Smaller Helicopters
• Personnel
• Small equipment
Two
Linemen

14. Wetland Impact Avoidance
• Helicopters
• Heavy-lift Sikorsky S-64 Air Crane
• Large equipment
― New and Old Utility Structures
― Mats
― Hammer and Power Unit
©Erik Daily, La Crosse Tribune
Hammer

15. Wetland Mitigation
• Impacts
• Permanent
• Approx. 0.01 acres for new structures
• Temporary
• Approx. up to 0.3 acres for new structure matting
• Approx. up to 5 acres for access routes

16. Wetland Mitigation
• DPC Long-term Maintenance
• Conduct a ground inspection
• Restore all areas of temporary disturbance to pre-existing or
improved habitat conditions
• Every 5 years
• Prepare and implement Vegetation Management Work Plans with
USFWS and WDNR

17. Species Conservation
• Avoidance
• Loggerhead Shrike
• Bell’s Vireo
• Cerulean Warbler
• Construction activities conducted after August 15 avoided breeding
season

18. Species Conservation
• Onsite Monitoring
• Eastern Massasauga
• Wood Turtle
• Up to two onsite Stantec Biologists
― Trained to handle and relocate species to
nearby habitat
― Hold E/T permits for target species
― Equipped with snake tongs
― VES ahead of all construction activities
― Remain near crews at all times
― Monitored from construction start
September 1 until the start of WDNR
designated species inactive season
October 31
*note eastern gartersnake hence why
I’m free handling it

19. Species Conservation
• Impacts
• No massasaugas or wood turtles observed during monitoring
• DPC Long-term Maintenance
• Conduct an updated endangered resources review within one
year

20. Species Conservation
• Additional Wildlife Sightings
• Northern Leopard Frogs
• Green Frogs
• Blue-spotted Salamanders
• Eastern Gartersnakes
• Midland Brownsnakes
• Northern Watersnakes
• Blanding's Turtle
• Snapping Turtle
• Midland Painted Turtles
• Bald Eagles
• Mink
• Wolf prints
• White-tailed Deer

21. Questions?