Last month, the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources signed off on a project to expand the Franklin County Airport’s runway — expected to bolster the local economy by creating a hub for more types of aircraft.

But environmentalists, birders and the Vermont Endangered Species Committee have raised concerns about the process by which the Vermont Agency of Transportation (VTrans) obtained its permit, which became final on July 14.

They allege that the agency did not properly consider one of the state’s last breeding populations of the grasshopper sparrow, which lives on the airport’s grounds.

Officials began widening the airport runway this spring. The Vermont Endangered Species Committee, which reviews permit applications related to threatened and endangered species and provides advice to the secretary of the Agency of Natural Resources, accused VTrans of failing to obtain a necessary permit for the ongoing construction.

“The draft permit that we are evaluating is in response to both the project at hand (runway lengthening), but also work that is ongoing without a permit (runway widening),” the group’s recommendation to the Agency of Natural Resources said, and added that the “airport widening is a violation of Vermont’s Endangered Species Act.”

The nine-member committee consists of the state’s agriculture secretary, the commissioners of the Fish & Wildlife and Forests, Parks and Recreation departments, and six members of the public appointed by the governor.

Following the committee’s recommendations, a group of environmental organizations, including Audubon Vermont, the Vermont Natural Resources Council and the Vermont Center for Ecostudies requested that the Agency of Natural Resources stop the process. They also alleged that VTrans hadn’t submitted an adequate plan to prevent the project from harming the sparrow population.

“To avoid creating a dangerous precedent, including encouraging other project developers to disregard Vermont’s Threatened and Endangered Species law, or other important state environmental laws, we request that you deny VTrans’ permit application for the referenced project,” the request states. “The construction of the Franklin County State Airport expansion is not a ‘lawful activity’ until a valid permit is issued.”

Trini Brassard, assistant director of policy, planning and intermodal development at the Vermont Agency of Transportation, said the agency has permits for all of the work it has completed to date. The Agency of Natural Resources did not indicate that the airport needed a permit related to the grasshopper sparrow for the current construction, she said.

“We applied to them just like every other developer in the state, right?” Brassard said. “You submit all your applications, and then they go through and tell you where you have to go and what permits you have to get, just like everybody else. We got all those permits.”

Julie Moore, secretary of the Agency of Natural Resources, told VTDigger that the alleged violation “is a matter where we are actively looking into,” but declined to comment further on the agency’s inquiry.

Rosalind Renfrew, wildlife diversity program manager at the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department, said that the permit for the next phase of the project — lengthening the airport runway — includes requirements to “restore any grasslands that were disturbed in the airport widening.”

“That’s where we’re starting,” she said. “I’m actually actively working with VTrans right now on a revegetation plan. We expect that to be wrapped up soon.”

The presence of grassland birds at the airport is well-known among birders in the state. The sparrows’ requirements for habitat are unique: They require well-drained, low-nutrient soils that create a relatively sparse plant community. Because grasshopper sparrows aren’t good flyers, they need space on the ground to walk and forage.

“In the past, this species has occurred (at) a number of airports, small state airports in the state,” Renfrew said. “Franklin County Airport is sort of holding the bag now with what remains of those populations. This is sort of the one remaining bastion of grasshopper sparrow habitat.”

Across the continent, grassland bird populations are declining faster than any other category of bird due, in part, to the development of their grassy habitat or its conversion from grass to other agricultural uses. Vermont is no exception.

Environmental groups are skeptical that the permit will adequately protect the grassland birds.

“We’re really banking that this mitigation will work, even though it’s already too late to really start the mitigation prior to (construction),” said Kevin Tolan, a staff biologist with the Vermont Center for Ecostudies. “And there’s no backup plan if it doesn’t work. So that’s where a lot of this comes from, just that it hasn’t really, I don’t think, been properly handled, and it’s just been pushed through.”

Renfrew and Moore with the Agency of Natural Resources also pointed to a 136-acre piece of land the state recently purchased that abuts the airport, saying it includes ideal habitat for the birds.

“It changes sort of the makeup of the mitigation plan, or at least what options there are available to be discussed as part of the mitigation plan,” Moore said.

Brassard, with VTrans, said the agency bought the property to have a navigation easement over the airspace, and so they could cut trees.

Asked about using the land for grasshopper bird habitat, Brassard said a conversation between the Agency of Natural Resources and VTrans about the subject “has not happened.”

“It’s not a topic that’s come up that I’m aware of,” she said.

The environmental groups also pointed to the permit’s public comment period, which closed the same day that the Agency of Natural Resources issued the permit. Renfrew and Moore said agency officials were monitoring the comments in real time.

“The final permit was drafted that day with those comments in mind, that even came in last minute,” Renfrew said.

The timeline was particularly short because the airport expansion hinged on a grant from the Federal Aviation Administration, earmarked for Vermont through congressional appropriations, that was set to expire on July 15.

Given the dwindling population of grasshopper sparrows in the state and the new land acquisition, Renfrew said VTrans is “in a position to be a significant steward of the species, and at this point, it may not become a big lift for them to do that.”

“VTrans is committed to working with ANR, and to looking at a wide scope of environmental challenges out there,” Brassard said when asked about the agency’s potential role as a steward of the grasshopper sparrow. “We’re also very committed to operating a safe airport. So we’ll continue to work with ANR in areas where we can accommodate and still have safe operations. We’ll look at ways to do that.”