Yellowstone National Park (Park) experienced record flooding in 2022, which washed out the North Entrance Road and required reconstruction of the road in a new location. ERO assisted the Park and the National Park Service (NPS) Denver Service Center (DSC) with the Yellowstone North Entrance Road project, including pre-National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) planning services, preparation of an environmental assessment (EA), and compliance support with the NHPA, ESA, and Clean Water Act (CWA). As part of the interdisciplinary team (IDT), the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA)-Western Federal Lands Division (WFL) prepared the alternatives and design for the selected alternative and provided reviews of environmental compliance documents.
At the project outset, ERO facilitated a multiday pre-NEPA planning workshop for the IDT, including approximately 30 Park, DSC, and FHWA-WFL staff. Following the workshop, ERO prepared a pre-NEPA report for the project, including a preliminary purpose and need for the project, preliminary alternatives carried forward for analysis, preliminary alternatives considered and dismissed, preliminary impact topics and impacts, and data gaps and recommendations for next steps.
Throughout the project, ERO coordinated and completed multiple concurrent tasks, including the following:
- Conducting field surveys for wetlands and waters of the U.S. and rare and invasive plants across 1,000 acres and preparing the survey report
- Preparing the EA, which required close coordination with the NPS and FHWA-WFL to ensure data accuracy
- Preparing wetland and floodplain statements of finding
- Preparing a cultural resource assessment of effect and memorandum of agreement
- Preparing meeting materials and public notices for virtual and in-person public meetings
- Facilitating virtual public meetings
- Preparing the public comment summary report and comment responses
- Preparing a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) and Non-Impairment Determination
- Preparing Section 508-compliant documents for all public-facing documents
- Preparing a comprehensive decision file