Prior to the gaining of consent for your proposed development, you may be required to submit a Phase 1 Habitat Survey: an assessment of the botanical communities within the area of your development. As the developer, you will need to show an understanding of the potential conservation importance of the habitats, within the development site.
At INIS Ecology we are fully competent in Phase 1 Habitat Surveys and carry out our survey work in accordance with the Heritage Council’s Classification Scheme (Fossitt, 2000), National Vegetation Classification (NVC) (Phase II) and surveys for rare plants. Our team includes specialist botanists and our experience includes the preparation of species habitat management plans and design of botanical mitigation.
In this way, as part of your project, we can deliver high quality survey results coupled with appropriate evaluation, interpretation and assessment. Using GIS software, we produce maps to accurately illustrate the spatial distribution of habitats in an area. This may be at a small-scale site level, where we focus on site-specific information. Alternatively, we can apply a large-scale view where we study the habitat information of a wider survey area.
Habitat Surveys and Your Project
We know that habitat loss through infrastructural developments is mainly experienced at compounds, hard stand areas, roads and turbine bases. We can design Habitat Management Plans which specify what needs to be done to rehabilitate the damaged areas and to allow succession to take place as quickly as possible.
Our team combines wide-ranging survey experience with technical knowledge and expertise.
We can assist with habitat surveys and more detailed botanical surveys throughout Ireland.
We use GPS units and handheld tablets to accurately map habitats – reducing post-survey data processing time for large sites and passing this saving onto you, the client.
We work in accordance with the Heritage Council habitat survey and mapping scheme (based on the classification system derived by Fossitt, 2000).