Midfield Terminal Expansion - Project Millennium

Our environmental team was responsible for providing the environmental services required at the project site and the 7,000-acre offsite mitigation area. The mitigation park was the recipient of the Environmental Achievement Award in 2004 presented by the Airport Council North America and the Florida Airports Council Environmental Award for 2008. The extensive habitat mapping, species surveys, water level data and habitat evaluations formed the input for the overall mitigation park management plan. Our team collected and analyzed all of the relevant data to prepare the mitigation park plan that consists of 500-acres of wetland creation, monitoring, controlled burns and maintenance. Southwest Florida International Airport’s Project Millennium is the largest capital improvement project in the history of Southwest Florida.

Florida Gulf Coast University

We provide ecological monitoring, environmental planning and environmental permitting services at FGCU. This includes implementation of an intensive mitigation plan that includes wetland creation, wetland restoration, and upland and wetland enhancement. Our team regularly conducts wildlife surveying for the eastern indigo snake, and has developed and implemented a bird flight path monitoring protocol.

Lee County Port Authority

As the Lee County Port Authority’s general environmental and planning consultant, we service both the Southwest Florida International Airport and Page Field General Aviation Airport. We are responsible for all mitigation monitoring, compliance and land management oversight for 7,400 acres of onsite and offsite conservation lands, water quality monitoring, NPDES monitoring, listed species surveys, and preparation of a Wildlife Hazard Assessment. Johnson Engineering also provides planning and environmental services for master plan updates and comprehensive plan amendments.

Post-Restoration Monitoring - Kissimmee River Restoration Project

The South Florida Water Management District is working to restore a portion of the historic flood plain of the Kissimmee River corridor. By doing this, areas that are now appropriate habitat for the crested caracara may become flooded. The SFWMD selected our environmental team to conduct post-restoration monitoring of the caracara population within the Kissimmee River corridor to study how they adapt to large habitat changes across this significant part of the population’s range. Post-restoration monitoring focused on providing additional data on the use of the Kissimmee River corridor by both breeding and non-breeding crested caracaras.

Treviso Bay Mitigation Monitoring

We provided services for the environmental permitting and mitigation monitoring required for Treviso Bay, a 1,000 acre mixed-use community in Naples, Florida. Mitigation was required for wetland impacts, and impacts to gopher tortoise and panther habitat. A combination of onsite and offsite mitigation was utilized on this project. Offsite mitigation includes 110 acres within the Florida Department of Environmental Protection owned Rookery Bay, purchase of mitigation credits from two mitigation banks, and 300 acres for panther mitigation in Hendry County, Florida. The mitigation program includes prescribed burning, water level monitoring, chloride monitoring, wildlife utilization and vegetation. The project required approvals from Collier County, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD), the Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

Shadow Wood Preserve Mitigation Monitoring

We performed wetland mitigation monitoring as required by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Permit and SFWMD environmental resource permit for the 422-acre development of Shadow Wood Preserve. The mitigation plan consists of a combination of onsite and offsite mitigation. Onsite mitigation includes 85 acres of wetland preservation, 13 acres of upland preservation, 30 acres of wetland enhancement and two acres of wetlands restoration and creation, as well as one acre of littoral shelves created around the perimeter of the western most storm water management lakes and planted with native wetland vegetation. Offsite mitigation was conducted on state lands and included wetland enhancement and restoration, and wetland creation totaling 60 acres.

Babcock Ranch

We have 30 years of experience working with the Babcock Ranch, beginning in the early 1970’s. The initial work conducted by our team at the ranch involved restoring water levels within Telegraph Cypress Swamp. We recommended reinforcing the Big Island Dike and constructing three major water control structures in the dike. The structures were designed with removable boards, allowing for a more controlled release of water more closely mimicking historic flows. Our past president, Archie Grant, served on the Babcock Florida Company’s Board of Directors for more than 25 years. During that time, we were Babcock Ranch’s primary engineer, responsible for surveying, environmental permitting, water management, and construction management.

Water management permitting with the South Florida Water Management District for the Babcock Ranch began in 1980 with receipt of a mining operation permit. Permitting for the mine included wetland delineations, listed species evaluations, hydrologic assessments and water management designs. We obtained the water use permit for the agricultural operations of the ranch and in 1998 established the Town and Country Utilities Company to operate a water utility in Charlotte and Lee Counties using the Babcock Ranch property. In early 2000, the Babcock Florida Company and the state of Florida began talks for the acquisition of the ranch. As part of these negotiations, we mapped upland and wetland limits on approximately 44,000 acres of the ranch for the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.

Big Cypress Mitigation Bank

Our environmental team provides mitigation monitoring and oversight for the Big Cypress Mitigation Bank and provides Earthmark Companies with due diligence and forecasting services for mitigation bank acquisition and planning. We conduct market analysis to determine the potential for credit absorption utilizing various models and market groups. Our team has also updated the mitigation credit program to equate wood stork prey base and panther habitat units per wetland credit. Earthmark Companies requested that we conduct a cumulative impact assessment for the Estero Bay Watershed. Our team collected GIS data from several governmental agencies, including Lee County, South Florida Water Management District and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Our analysis included submodels for measures of wetland function (condition, hydrologic connection, uniqueness, location, and fish and wildlife utilization). ArcGIS Spatial Analyst was used to model a set of criteria for each measure of wetland function and combine them into a final model. The final model scored wetlands and divided them into five classes of quality (poor, low, average, good, excellent). The final model has been accepted and is being utilized by the South Florida Water Management District. We are currently conducting a similar analysis for the West Collier Basin.