Finding what you need? Let us know in a short survey.
Liaisons are designated staff at regulatory and natural resource agencies who help make it quicker and easier to get Clean Water Act Section 404 permits, Section 10 River and Harbors Act permits, and Section 401 Water Quality Certifications, Coastal Zone Management Act approvals, and consultations under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) for Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) work. WSDOT has liaisons at the Washington Department of Ecology (Ecology), US Army Corps of Engineers (Corps), US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries.
If you are a consultant or contractor, coordinate with your WSDOT regional or modal environmental point of contact. Your WSDOT contact will coordinate with the liaisons as needed.
Find out when and how to coordinate with the liaisons below.
To schedule a meeting with multiple liaisons or if you have questions on how and when to coordinate with the liaisons, contact the Liaison Program Coordinator, TaraLyn Stone, taralyn.stone@wsdot.wa.gov.
Before using this information, review Chapter 2.2: Understanding the Biological Assessment Process of the Biological Assessment (BA) preparation manual. If your work requires ESA consultation with the USFWS or NOAA, coordinate with the ESA liaisons at the following times:
You must always do early coordination before you submit consultation documents to the Services. You can find additional early coordination guidance on the WSDOT Fish and Wildlife intranet webpage.
Pre-BA meeting: Most work with a formal (programmatic or individual) consultation will need to be presented at a Pre-BA meeting. The meetings are held on the third Thursday of each month. Contact the Fish and Wildlife Program Endangered Species Biologist, Mark Bakeman, mark.bakeman@wsdot.wa.gov, to get on the agenda for a Pre-BA Meeting. If you are not sure if you need to attend a Pre-BA meeting, consult with Mark Bakeman or one of the ESA liaisons.
E-mail Coordination: If you do not need to attend a Pre-BA meeting, send an early coordination e-mail to the ESA liaisons at ESOESALiaisons@wsdot.wa.gov. In the email make sure to include a project description, species affected and the proposed effect determination, how the project does or does not fit the programmatic agreement, and anything else that may help the Liaisons. If you submit an email, the liaisons may still ask you to attend a Pre-BA meeting depending on the level of complexity of your project.
Follow the instructions in the Biological Assessment Submittal Matrix (pdf 281 kb) to submit consultation documents to the Services.
Email or call the ESA liaison you worked with if you have any questions after your consultation is complete. This may include updates to the project scope, questions on minimization measures, and concerns during construction.
Before using this information, review our Environmental permits and approvals webpage to determine if your project will require a permit or approval from the Corps or Ecology. If your work requires a permit or approval, coordinate with the permitting liaisons at the following times:
You may need to email, or call for immediate assistance, the permitting liaisons before applying for a permit or approval. The liaisons can help identify the types of permits or approvals needed, determine what information should be included with the permit application, and discuss mitigation strategies.
Follow the steps below to prepare application documents for the Corps and Ecology.
To submit the application to the Corps - Send an email to the Corps application email address, NWS-PermitApp@usace.army.mil, cc’ing the permitting liaisons at ESOPermittingliaisons@wsdot.wa.gov and program management staff, and either:
If you have already been assigned a Corps reference or permit number, put it in the subject line of all emails. Send revised or updated application documents directly to the permitting liaisons working on your project, not to the general Corps or Ecology addresses.
If you cannot submit electronically, mail hard copies or a CD with the application documents to the Corps at: US Army Corps of Engineers, Attn: WSDOT Liaisons, Regulatory Branch, PO Box 4735, Seattle, Washington, 98124-3755.
To submit an application to Ecology - Send an email to the Ecology Federal Permit Unit, ecyrefedpermits@ecy.wa.gov, cc’ing the permitting liaisons at ESOPermittingliaisons@wsdot.wa.gov and program management staff, and either:
If you cannot submit electronically, mail hard copies or a CD with the application documents to the WA Department of Ecology, Attn: Federal Permit Unit, Shorelands and Environmental Assistance, PO Box 47600, Olympia, Washington 98504-7600.
If the scope of work changes and no longer matches the scope of work approved in your permit, call or email the permitting liaisons to find out how to proceed. Put the permit number in the subject line of all follow-up emails. Submit updated documents to the permitting liaisons by email or Corps ftp site as above to the liasons working on your project, not to the Corps application email address.
If the scope of work changes during construction, call or email the permitting liaisons to find out how to proceed.
If you have a non-compliance event, initiate the Environmental Compliance Assurance Procedure (ECAP) as described on our Environmental commitments & compliance webpage.
WSDOT staff can find contact information for the individual ESA and permitting liaisons on the WSDOT intranet website, in the WSDOT Global Address List in MS Outlook, or by contacting one of the program managers below.
Michelle Meade
ESA Liaison Program Manager
michelle.meade@wsdot.wa.gov
360-705-7662
360-763-2309 cell
Stephanie Jackson
Permitting Liaison Program Manager
JacksoS@wsdot.wa.gov
360-705-7464
360-490-3956 (cell)
TaraLyn Stone
ESA & Permitting Liaison Program Coordinator
tara.stone@wsdot.wa.gov
360-705-7304
541-731-3129 (cell)
