An on-going National Park Service project at the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area exemplifies the innovative approach of ETS staff and how, through facilitation and brainstorming with public land managers and their partners, solutions that meet mission and customer needs can be developed and implemented.

The “Gap” lies approximately 2 hours from New York City and Newark, New Jersey, and receives millions of visitors each year. Since the development of the Park General Management Plan, significant changes in Park visitors, use patterns, and the environment have occurred. ETS staff facilitated a planning charrette with Park staff in the development of a new vision for river campsite management.

Here is an excerpt from the vision:
Management of the Delaware River campsites protects water quality and cultural resources and uses recreation, including river camping, as a conservation management tool. River customers are recognized as having different values, recreation use patterns, and as seeking diverse benefits from river recreation. The sustainable river campsite vision recognizes these differences and uses management zones to meet customer expectations and conservation goals. River zoning and the design, location, and management of river campsites follow “green practices” and contribute to Park conservation goals and the Park Service mission. Environmental quality and the quality of customer experiences are more important than the quantity of experiences. River campsite management uses many tools and opportunities to provide conservation messaging.

Management of the Delaware River campsites focuses on financial sustainability. Permits, fees, and campsite reservations are management tools for meeting resource conservation goals, customer needs, and financial requirements. River outfitters are considered partners in meeting both resource conservation goals and the substantial operations and maintenance requirements associated with visitor use.

The sustainable river campsite vision recognizes that the Delaware River occurs within a regionally significant tourism destination area. Park staff will encourage “off-park” options for meeting some customer demands, such as water play. The connections of the river campsites to other regionally significant recreation activities, such as the McDade bike trail will also be considered.

ETS personnel are currently completing an environmental assessment for replacing campsites along the river.

Enterprise Technical Services (ETS) specializes in providing facility-related environmental assessment and categorical exclusion analysis and documentation in compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and related laws, policies, and regulations to which public land agencies subscribe. We use a practical, environmental compliance approach that meets regulations without excessive analysis or documentation costs.

For example, in November 2003 the USDA Forest Service Forest Products Laboratory (FPL) assessed the condition of the 18 buildings within the FPL Madison, Wisconsin campus, including Building 41. The analysis addressed the building systems and components, space layout, and functionality and found Building 41 to be in a significant state of disrepair and under use and recommended demolishing the structure.

Building 41 was a 4,100 gross square feet, one-story, glazed block building with brick walls, constructed in 1946. The Forest Products Lab proposed to demolish Building 41, including the below-grade foundation and adjacent asphalt apron. The proposed action included disposing of asbestos and lead paint according to State of Wisconsin requirements; capping, securing, or demolishing site utilities; demolition of the structure; and recycling and/or re-use of construction waste.

ETS staff prepared an environmental assessment for the Forest Products Lab that met all applicable Federal, State, and Forest Service requirements. ETS personnel coordinated with FPL facility engineers and staff on existing documentation and information available on the Forest Products Lab site and the University of Wisconsin Madison Campus, such as archeological investigations. Through the coordination and use of existing documentation, ETS personnel were able to complete the environmental assessment at approximately one-third the cost of an environmental assessment completed for a building construction project at the site two years earlier.

The US Forest Service Grey Towers Historic Landmark is the historic mansion of founding father, Gifford Pinchot in Milford, Pennsylvania. Waterlines to the property connect to the City of Milford and provide water to both the mansion and private property within the historic site and are also used for irrigation. ETS planners and engineers coordinated with Grey Towers personnel to develop a waterline replacement proposal that met needs for long-term management of the system by the City of Milford, protection of the historic landscape and mansion, cost containment, and water reduction. Specifically, ETS staff completed a categorical exclusion for the waterline replacement and developed a water system design and construction contract that met both Forest Service and City of Milford requirements.  

One of the engineering innovations developed through the project was the use of the existing water lines and water storage cisterns to the mansion for fire suppression and irrigation. Water quality requirements made using the existing cisterns and line impractical for potable water; however upon further consideration, the team proposed to separate the fire suppression and irrigation lines from those carrying potable water and to use them for fire suppression and irrigation. The innovative approach saved money and provided a “green” alternative for fire suppression and a short-term irrigation need.

ETS also completed a categorical exclusion for the repair of a historic dam at the Grey Towers site.

Enterprise Technical Services specializes in providing annual operations or maintenance inspections required for Federal and other facilities. With retirements and declining budgets, many public managers are faced with deciding the work that can be delegated and what they must complete themselves. Operations and maintenance of facilities can often require specific training or certifications to complete, such as water systems and highway bridges. In many circumstances, it “makes sense” for public land managers to delegate annual operations or maintenance inspections rather than hiring a full-time person for a relatively small number of facilities or providing expensive training to a work force that already has a “full plate of work.” ETS provides annual inspection and data entry services for a full range of facilities.

For example, during the summer of 2008, ETS staff inspected over 80 trail and highway bridges for the National Forests of Florida and Mississippi and entered data into the Forest Service corporate facility data base (INFRA). The work involved coordinating with Forest Service staff, conducting the inspections, and preparing reports in accordance to requirements. ETS staff also provided training to local Forest Service personnel.  

During the spring of 2009, Randy Schrank and Bill Nielson (SMS Land Surveyors) performed topographic site surveys for nine Trail Bridge crossing sites on the Sam Houston National Forest and Stephen Austin Experimental Forest in Texas.  Work was performed in cooperation with Trails Unlimited Enterprise Team.  Final products provided included AutoCAD Site drawings and trail alignment and centerline profile sheets for future bridge planning and design purposes. Bill and Randy continue to provide land surveying services for the Forest Service in Region 10 in support of engineering, boundary management, recreation, fish and wildlife, lands, archaeological and minerals programs in the region. 

A few of the projects Bill and Randy worked on during the summer of 2010 included  an 8.5 acre topographic  site survey of the Auke Lake Research Facility for the Pacific Northwest Research Station in Juneau AK, stream control and channel layout in support of TEAMS Enterprise efforts to restore Daves Creek Channel on the Kenai Peninsula, AK and trail bridge site and trail easement surveys in support of the design and construction of the Iditarod National Historic Trail (INHT) between Seward and Girdwood AK.