The Damonte Ranch Development is comprised of approximately 1,743 acres. Designations within this acreage include the following: approximately 1,047 acres of residential, 37 acres of town center, 193 acres of office/industrial, 80 acres of public/semi-public facilities, 110 acres of parks and recreation, and 276 acres of open space and wetlands. There is a public trail system through-out the entire development.

Specifically, there is a total of approximately 174 acres of Waters of the United States/wetland (WOUS/wetlands) at Damonte Ranch. These wetlands include preserved, restored, and created/constructed seasonal palustrine persistent emergent wetlands, open water, and riparian habitats. In addition, a wetland mitigation bank is currently being created.

H&C was directly responsible for the WOUS/wetlands delineations, all federal, state and local permitting with respect to approximately 174 acres of WOUS/wetlands, including one mile of stream habitat. H&C was directly responsible for the design of all federal, state and local mitigation plans, construction implementation and mitigation monitoring for WOUS/wetlands and one mile of stream habitat.

H&C is also responsible for multiple aspects of the project including:

1) wetland parks and cultural resource Visitor's centers
2) environmental education and interpretive trails and open space
3) management of open space in perpetuity
4) Parcel Assessment Records (PAR) Analysis
5) wildlife monitoring
6) erosion control monitoring
7) vector/mosquito control plans
8) the design, construction implementation, and monitoring of a wetland mitigation bank
(9) a Cultural Resources Management Plan
(10) invasive weed and vegetative species removal plans
(11) hydrologic and geomorphological studies related to watershed restoration
(12) threatened and endangered species evaluation and compliance; and compliance reporting with respect to Sections 401, 402, and 404 of the Clean Water Act, Section 7 of the Endangered Species Act, Section 106 of Historian Preservation Act, and other state and local permitting.


Overall, an adaptive restoration management approach has been incorporated into the Damonte Ranch WOUS/wetlands Mitigation Plan.
 

For Damonte Ranch Public Slideshows, Access Here--(online view)
View our Powerpoint Presentation on how we Integrated Natural Drainage into Flood Control at damonte ranch, Reno, NV, and view our Powerpoint Presentation at 2006 Homeowner Meeting Presentation; 2006 Homeowner Meeting Presentation (download the PowerPoint slideshow 2.89MB), and INTREGRATING NATURAL DRAINAGE INTO FLOOD CONTROL AT DAMONTE RANCH, RENO, NEVADA(download the PowerPoint slideshow 2.06MB)


Data is being collected for hydrology, soils, vegetation, sensitive species, invasive weed species, and wildlife; data are being compared against wetland target success criteria to determine success criteria and contingency measures. Data collection is in the third growing season of a ten year plan and constructed and restored wetlands are achieving final success criteria for vegetation, wildlife and soils. Seasonal wetland hydrology is also meeting success criteria despite drought conditions. H&C has established a coordinated research program related to soil characteristics, vegetation identification, abundance and diversity, avian identification, abundance and avian diversity surveys.

H&C has designed and implemented an avian monitoring program in the spring of 2004. This program is designed to determine avian use and long term changes in avian population density and diversity within the preserved, restored, and created wetlands at Damonte Ranch.

Results of the 2004 spring and winter avian monitoring indicate that avian groups are using the preserved, restored, and created wetlands. Currently, shorebirds, waterfowl, and songbirds are now primarily residents of the wetlands, and have been observed using the wetlands for feeding, breeding, nesting, and raising young. Aerial insectivores, wading birds, and raptors are occasional visitors which have been observed using the wetlands for primarily feeding and hunting purposes.

A non-native invasive plant removal/control program has also been developed and implemented at Damonte Ranch. The non-native invasive plant removal/control program focuses on the removal and control of four non-native and numerous highly invasive vegetation species. The four non-native species are: Purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria), Tall whitetop/perennial pepperweed (Lepidium latifolium), Tamarix spp., and Canada thistle (Cirsium arvense). The ultimate purpose of the non-native invasive plant/removal control program is to control non-native invasive species to less than 10% in the WOUS/wetland areas.

Please call or email Ms. Debra Lemke, CPESC with any questions or comments about the Damonte Ranch project.

For more information on Damonte Ranch, click http://www.damonteranch.com/