Churchill Roberts
Church serves as director of the firm’s environmental consulting team, whose ecologists have more than 100 years of combined experience. Working on all aspects of environmental projects for the firm, he is instrumental in the permitting of projects and preparing and implementing ecological programs for private, local, state and federal entities that involve benthic resources, sensitive lands, critical habitat and protected species. Church often serves as a liaison between clients and government officials for environmental services. He continues to conduct field reconnaissance and remains active in biological fieldwork, including wetland determinations; biological assessments for projects involving protected species; agency coordination; mitigation assessments and banking for listed species and wetlands; field sampling; biological report preparation and benthic assessments. Church is the project manager for the Lee County Port Authority.
John Curtis
John is a senior ecologist of the environmental team with more than 13 years experience working on many of the firm’s key projects. His environmental consulting experience includes wetland delineations, environmental resource permitting, protected species surveys and relocations, habitat and protected species mapping and management plans, conservation bank permitting for threatened and endangered species, macroinvertebrate sampling, mitigation plan design and monitoring, native habitat restoration, project management, and expert witness testimony for ecological related matters. He managed all aspects of environmental permitting for The Forum, a 700-acre mixed-use development in Fort Myers. John recently served as project manager of a one-year recreational boat traffic study in coastal Collier County to characterize boat traffic patterns and evaluate the level of boater compliance with regulatory speed zones. He is currently working to obtain environmental resource permits for the Powell Creek Filter Marsh and Ten Mile Canal Filter Marsh projects, two major water quality initiatives in Lee County. John obtained his Bachelor of Arts in Biology from Rollins College in 1994.
Laura Herrero
Laura is a senior ecologist in the environmental team with more than 17 years of private and public sector experience in the environmental field. Her environmental consulting experience includes wetland delineation; protected species surveys; habitat and species management plans; biological monitoring; coordination and permitting with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; Fish and Wildlife Service biological assessments; mitigation proposals; environmental impact statements, environmental resource permit and federal dredge and fill permit applications with follow-through to permit issuance and post-permit compliance. Laura has done considerable permitting for the Lee County Department of Transportation on Gladiolus Drive widening, Six-Mile Cypress Parkway widening, Alico Road corridor study, and Section 33 Regional Mitigation Site. She worked with the Florida Department of Transportation on the expansion of S.R. 776 in Charlotte County, S.R. 64 in Manatee County, and S.R. 70 in DeSoto County, as well as working with Collier County for Phases II and III of Livingston Road Corridor and expansion of Goodlette-Frank Road.
Peggy Grant
Peggy is a senior ecologist with more than 18 years of professional environmental experience in Southwest Florida. Two of Peggy’s areas of expertise are environmental resource permitting and sovereign submerged lands rules. Peggy draws on this knowledge to assist clients in the permitting of projects, with special focus on marine and coastal projects (i.e. docks, marinas, boat ramps, dredging, coastal park amenities). She is responsible for all aspects in the permitting of projects, including underwater surveys of submerged resources; coordination with wildlife agencies and local government regarding project consistency with Manatee Protection Plans; sovereign submerged lands authorizations; preparation of marina management plans; wetland jurisdictional delineations; and mitigation analysis and design.
Sarah Webber
Sarah joins Johnson Engineering from the Seminole Tribe of Florida where she worked as the Tribe’s Wildlife Biologist for six years. Her experience includes surveying and monitoring Florida wildlife including federal and state listed species such as the northern crested caracara, gopher tortoise, Everglade snail kite, Florida scrub jay and Florida panther. She has extensive experience in National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), Section 7 consultation under the Endangered Species Act, tribal laws and sovereignty as well as many other federal regulations. Her previous work also involved writing biological assessments for many types of projects, prescribed burn plans and other land management activities, in addition to, project and mitigation plan permitting and compliance, developing and maintaining project and species GIS databases, and community outreach. Sarah is an Authorized Gopher Tortoise Agent (GTA-10-00083) and has several SCUBA certifications.
Anik Smith
Anik is an ecologist with specialized experience in land management and hazardous wildlife issues as they relate to airports. Her work primarily focuses on land management oversight of the 7,000-acre mitigation park, associated with the new Midfield Terminal at Southwest Florida International Airport. This land management work includes providing oversight and technical support for exotic plant control; feral hog removal and prescribed burning contracts; writing land management plans; and monitoring conditions at the mitigation park through standardized transect methodology and GPS and GIS mapping. The hazardous wildlife work Anik is involved in includes managing the wildlife hazard assessment at Southwest Florida International Airport per the Federal Aviation Administration requirements, and providing technical support as a member of the airport’s Hazardous Wildlife Working Group.
