Navigating IPaC for Transportation Project in Pennsylvania
May 21, 2026
at 12:00 (Noon) Eastern
The first part of this presentation will begin by covering the basics of the United Stated Fish and Wildlife Service’s (USFWS) Information for Planning and Consultation (IPaC) website and will address questions such as “What is IPac?”, “Where did it Come From”, and “Why do I need an IPaC?”. Additionally, we will discuss the requirements of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and how it relates to the IPaC process.
The second part of the presentation will provide an in-depth overview of the IPaC process as it relates specifically to USFWS projects in Pennsylvania with emphasis on how to obtain federal ESA clearance for projects. The presentation will focus on completing federal ESA reviews for transportation projects completed on behalf of PennDOT/FHWA and will discuss PennDOT’s policies and procedures for completing the federal ESA process. We will try to address common questions encountered during the project process including those such as “When Do I Need an IPaC?”, “Who is my Designated Federal Representative at PennDOT?”, and “What if My Project Has No Federal Funding?”. The presentation will contain an optional interactive portion, so please bring your laptop if you would like to follow along with our example project.
Presenter: Elizabeth Grietzer - is a Staff Scientist at Terracon (formerly Skelly and Loy). She has been with the company for 8 years and is a NEPA Project Manager and Threatened and Endangered Species Bat Biologist. During her years at Terracon, she has assisted with a number of threatened endangered species surveys including bog turtles (Glyptemys muhlenbergii), eastern spadefoot toad (Scaphiopus holbrookii), Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus), Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus), and various plants. However, her primary focus is related to a variety of surveys for federally and state-listed bat species, including mist-netting, acoustical surveys, winter hibernacula surveys, emergence surveys, and bridge inspections. Furthermore, Ms. Grietzer is well versed in obtaining threatened and endangered clearances (state and federal) level for a variety of projects. She has completed Endangered Species Clearance (ESA) clearances and in-depth consultations for a number of projects and is familiar with multiple state level systems such as the Pennsylvania Natural Diversity Inventory (PNDI) reports and the USFWS’s, Information, Planning, and Consultation (IPaC) reviews. Ms. Grietzer has worked directly with PennDOT personal regarding PennDOT’s approach to IPaC/USFWS consultation and has created instructions and tool aimed at helping other consultants with the federal ESA process.
Registration Deadline: May 19, 2026
Note: Registration is for one entrant. Any other individuals who would like to join this session are required to complete their own registration forms. The registration fee is set per person, not per connection.
PAEP Members - Webinars are free to current members but you will still need to register.
Non-Members – the fee for the webinar is $20 per person.
Government/Agency - the fee for webinar is $10 per person.
Registrants will be sent an email confirming registration with log in information to event. You will also get another email closer to the date of the event, providing information on how to join the webinar.
“The Pennsylvania Association of Environmental Professionals aims to promote environmental education, research, planning, assessment, review, and management through the formation and operation of a nonpolitical multidisciplinary professional society.” The content of our webinar series is not developed by PAEP, but by the presenters themselves.
