Town of Hyde Park – Vegetation Management

The Town of Hyde Park required a complete tree inventory of solar farm disturbances that would exceed five acres. LaBella Associates teamed with New Leaf Energy to conduct the tree inventory as well as a protected species screening and habitat assessment report for a forested Study Area spanning approximately 30 acres.

For this tree inventory, all trees six inches in diameter at breast height (DBH) or greater were located with a GPS device. The species, DBH, and general health of the tree were recorded. LaBella provided New Leaf with the GPS coordinates in a digital file to be incorporated into the engineering plans along with a table of the trees surveyed within the tree survey Study Area. Approximately 3,000 trees were inventoried for this project.

In addition to the tree inventory, LaBella completed habitat assessments for several threatened and endangered species, including the Indiana bat (Myotis sodalist), bog turtle (Glyptemys muhlenbergii), and Blanding’s turtle (Emydoidea blandingii).

For the Indiana bat habitat survey, our staff identified and mapped potential summer roost trees, which comprise trees with a DBH greater than three inches and exfoliating bark. Indiana bats prefer to roost in the bark of shagbark hickory (Carya ovata) trees and trees that are dead or dying.

For the bog turtle and Blanding’s turtle habitat surveys, we documented the habitats on the property and whether the area could support either of the two turtle species. The habitat assessment focused on the wetlands previously delineated on the site and assessed the potential for upland nesting and travel corridors on the site in relation to nearby adjacent wetlands.