by Derek Springston | May 22, 2019 | Aquatic, Bat Services, Mussel Surveys, News, Permitting, Stream & Wetland Permitting
AllStar Ecology is excited to announce the addition of four new staff members with a wide range of biological and environmental experience and expertise.
Matthew Gilkay, Environmental Scientist I / Aquatic Biologist, is assisting AllStar with freshwater mussel surveys, flow monitoring, macroinvertebrate field and laboratory work, and water quality sampling. Matt obtained his B.S. in Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology with minors in Environmental Science, Sustainability Studies, and Marine Biology in 2018. Mr. Gilkay also brings six years of open-water SCUBA diving experience in the Upper Midwest to AllStar’s dive team.
Grant Maltba, Environmental Scientist II / Bat Biologist, has joined our Bat Services team bringing eight years of experience in environmental services. Grant has a Federal Recovery Permit and West Virginia Scientific Collecting Permit for Indiana, gray, and northern long-eared bats. In 2013, he obtained his B.S. in Environmental Studies. Mr. Maltba is assisting AllStar with bat mist netting and acoustic surveys, bat box construction and installation, permitting and report writing, and bat habitat research.
Matt Safford, Environmental Scientist I / Bat Biologist, has also joined AllStar’s Bat Services team with five years of experience in wildlife and ecological monitoring and research. Matt obtained his B.A. in Ecology in 2013 and his M.S. in Entomology in 2018 studying the interactions between bats and their insect prey. Mr. Safford has a West Virginia Scientific Collecting Permit for bats and is assisting AllStar with bat box construction and installation, mist netting and acoustic bat monitoring, report writing, and bat habitat research.
Jason Clingerman, Environmental Scientist II, has joined our Stream and Wetland Delineation team. Mr. Clingerman has 8 years of experience in environmental consulting, and 12 years of experience utilizing GIS for various natural resource applications. He obtained his B.S. and M.S. in Wildlife and Fisheries Resources in 2005 and 2008, respectively. He is assisting AllStar with stream and wetland delineations, permitting, and report writing.
Please join us in welcoming these four great additions to the AllStar Team!
To read more about AllStar Ecology, visit our About Us page.
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by Derek Springston | Mar 27, 2019 | Mitigation & Restoration, News, Stream & Wetland Permitting
AllStar Ecology recently authored a chapter in the professional book Wetland and Stream Rapid Assessments: Development, Validation, and Application. This book describes the scientific and environmental policy background for rapid wetland and stream assessments, how such assessment methods are developed and statistically verified, and how they can be used in environmental decision-making—including wetland and stream permitting.
AllStar Ecology’s Dane Cunningham, Walter Veselka, and Ryan Ward co-authored Chapter 4.2.1 – “The West Virginia Stream and Wetland Valuation Metric (WVSWVM) Crediting Procedures and Assessments in Developing a Stream and Wetland Mitigation Banking Site”. This chapter details the assessment methodologies that comprise the WVSWVM, use of the metric, and the framework for using with regard to mitigation banking. AllStar Ecology takes pride in being a leader in environmental consulting and research, with employee’s specialties ranging from aquatic entomology to stream/wetland restoration design and construction.
To learn more about our Mitigation and Restoration Services team, visit our Mitigation and Restoration page.
To learn more about our Stream and Wetland Permitting team, visit our Stream and Wetland Permitting page.
To read more about AllStar Ecology, visit our About Us page
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AllStar Ecology
info@allstarecology.com
304-816-3490
by Derek Springston | Feb 20, 2019 | News, Volunteerism
Overview
AllStar Ecology’s Employer Sponsored Volunteer Program encourages our employees to serve and support our local and regional communities through volunteerism efforts. In 2018, seventeen of our employees (nearly half of our staff) participated in the program, represented AllStar, and provided over 188 hours of community service. We conducted educational outreach at local universities, high schools, and youth groups and also provided environmental surveys, tree plantings, church volunteerism, and local non-profit assistance.
Educational Outreach
In 2018, six AllStar employees volunteered their time at local schools and organizations to educate and teach children, young adults, college students, and school administrators about the environment and how our work relates to it. Participants learned about topics including stream channel design, sediment removal, fish relocation, environmental permitting, agency coordination, electrofishing, bee habitat and surveying, and underwater archaeology.
Environmental Surveys
AllStar Ecology’s staff has a wide variety of experience and education in numerous environmental consulting fields, which allows us to provide expertise to support local and regional community groups and agencies with a broad range of tasks related to environmental surveys. In 2018, an AllStar Ecology Environmental Scientist assisted the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources with rattlesnake surveys at Coopers Rock State Forest. They confirmed the presence of one timber rattlesnake, which was captured, processed, marked, and released in an ongoing effort to monitor the health and distribution of the species in the area.
Community Service
In 2018, several AllStar employees volunteered with numerous boards, churches, and other non-profits to provide a variety of assistance to our local communities including distribution of winter clothing to those in need, riparian tree plantings for Trout Unlimited to increase riparian habitat along restored reaches of trout stream, and support of Positive Spin who aims to make bicycles more available to community members.
Project Highlight – Robert C. Byrd High School
In 2018, AllStar provided environmental permitting guidance to Robert C. Byrd High School in Clarksburg, West Virginia, for their proposed Ecological Park Project. The project involved removing accumulated sediment within an existing stormwater pond located on the school’s property. AllStar completed all applicable environmental permitting including coordination with the United States Army Corps of Engineers and West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection. Prior to dredging the pond, AllStar worked with Junior ROTC members of Robert C. Byrd High and graduate students within WVU’s Wildlife and Fisheries Resources Program to safely electrofish, identify, measure, and relocate fish previously residing within the pond to another nearby pond with suitable habitat.
To read more about AllStar Ecology, visit our About Us page.
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by Derek Springston | Feb 15, 2018 | News, Volunteerism
AllStar Ecology had a very busy and successful 2017 as it was one of our company’s best years on record. This success was also demonstrated in our Employer Sponsored Volunteer Program. This program encourages our employees to serve and support our local and regional communities through AllStar Ecology sponsored volunteerism efforts. In 2017, twenty-three of our employees (over half of our staff) utilized the program, represented AllStar Ecology, and provided more than 250 hours of community service. We provided educational outreach to local schools, environmental surveys and reporting, litter cleanups, food bank assistance, and volunteerism on local boards.
Educational Outreach
In 2017, six AllStar Ecology employees volunteered their time at local schools and organizations to teach youth and young adults about environmental science. Hundreds of participants learned about topics including streams and wetlands, mitigation, bat biology, freshwater mussels, and other endangered species. AllStar Ecology staff also volunteered to judge merit awards for the WVU student chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architecture and Ridgedale Elementary School’s Science Fair.
Environmental Surveys
Our staff’s education and experience in numerous environmental fields allows us to use our expertise to support and assist community groups and agencies with things such as environmental surveys, report writing, habitat analysis, etc. For example, our Bat Biologists and Environmental Scientists volunteered their time in 2017 to complete a bat inspection and report for the First Presbyterian Church of Fairmont, WV. Our biologists also participated in the Lake Barkley Kentucky Bat Blitz, to assist fellow scientists and to help non-profits with permitting and field work. Further, three AllStar Ecology Environmental Scientists assisted the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection with rattlesnake surveys. The surveys were completed at Coopers Rock State Forest where they encountered copperheads, black rat snakes, ring-neck snakes and timber rattlesnakes. Lastly, one of AllStar Ecology’s Stream Assessment Specialists volunteered to assist Friends of Deckers Creek, a local non-profit watershed group, throughout 2017 with fish community sampling using backpack electrofishers.
Community Boards and Other Groups Served
In 2017, numerous AllStar employees volunteered on a wide range of boards and provide assistance to a variety of community groups, boards, and associations. These included the Association of Mid-Atlantic Aquatic Biologists, church groups, the Freshwater Mollusk Conservation Society, Cub Scouts, Friends of Deckers Creek, fire halls, Daughters of the American Revolution, and West Virginia University School of Business, Wildlife and Fisheries Resources, and Landscape Architecture programs. Projects supported in 2017 ranged from fundraising events to support children in need, litter clean ups, and food bank maintenance.
To read more about AllStar Ecology, visit our About Us page.
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by Derek Springston | Oct 10, 2017 | Bat Services, News
Eric Schroder, AllStar Ecology Bat Biologist, was recently the lead author on a journal article titled “Indiana bat maternity roost habitat preference within Midwestern United States upland Oak-Hickory (Quercus-Carya) forest”. The article focuses on the Indiana bat, a federally listed endangered species, and the complex combination of tree and landscape characteristics in influencing habitat preferences. The article is featured in the November 2017 version of Forest Ecology and Management.
Read the article here:
Indiana bat maternity roost habitat preferences within Midwestern United States upland Oak-Hickory (Quercus-Carya) forests
