Our team worked with SunCommon Solar to design a wetland restoration and habitat enhancement plan of their 1.5 acre lease area. This project enhanced what was historically a wetland cornfield turned solar field (community-supported solar array) with various levels of habitat enhancement including a detailed ecological planting plan with over 150 native trees and shrubs. The plan consisted of 15 species in four different zones (tree restoration zone, shrub zone, no-mow zone, and annual mow zone). These species were planted to provide habitat diversity and restore varying forest canopy layers to what was previously a heavily managed agricultural monoculture. Monitoring of the success of this project is ongoing, but in 2018, monitoring results showed an 86% tree and shrub survival success rate.
Over the years, SunCommon has relied heavily on our expertise in order to properly site their community supported solar arrays. We have conducted dozens of wetland delineations and rare plant surveys for them across the state.