ERS provides aviation clients and stakeholders with a variety of ecological services. We have a thorough understanding of the challenges airports face when implementing Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulations and guidance in conjunction with environmental agency regulations. Relying on our airport management experience, understanding of airport operations, and scientific knowledge of natural resource regulations, ERS implements innovative approaches to address client needs. Our use of industry standard geographic information system (GIS); computer-aided design (CAD); Global Position System (GPS); and remote sensing tools, Trimble, and Autodesk AutoCAD, supports seamless integration of geospatial-based technology with planning, management, and decision needs. Our firm’s professional staff includes FAA Qualified Airport Wildlife Biologists who have completed WHAs, WHMPs, WHSVs, and training throughout the country.

Expertise in:

• Wildlife Hazard Assessments (WHA)
• Wildlife Hazard Management Plans (WHMP)
• Wildlife Hazard Site Visits (WHSV)
• Wildlife Hazard Management Training (including Firearms Safety Training)
• Environmental Resource Permitting (wetlands and wildlife)
• NEPA Documentation
• Protected Species Surveys
• Biological Monitoring
• Environmental Planning
• Ecological documentation for Airport Master Plans
• Construction Monitoring

Projects triggering Developments of Regional Impact (DRI) thresholds receive increased regulatory scrutiny at state and local levels. The ERS team has assisted with the approval of many DRI projects.

Expertise in:

• Performing field studies to characterize wetland and upland plant communities
• Conducting detailed wildlife surveys per FWC guidelines and methodology
• Preparing formal responses to Application for Development Approval (ADA) Questions 12 through 15, which pertain to “Vegetation and Wildlife,” “Wetlands,” “Water,” and “Soils,” respectively
• Addressing sufficiency questions
• Participating in public hearings, agency meetings, and agency negotiations
• Assisting with any Notice of Proposed Changes (NOPCs)
• Providing expert witness testimony

Cogent testimony related to environmental regulation and land issues influences the direction and outcome of litigation. Our unsurpassed understanding of, and expertise in, regulatory and land issues endows ERS staff with formidable witness stature.

Expertise in:

• Working with legal counsel to identify and address environmental issues
• Providing necessary graphics to be used as evidentiary or demonstrative exhibits
• Providing expert witness testimony pertaining to ecology, botany, zoology, wetlands, water quality, habitats, threatened and endangered species, species of special concern, impact assessment, and permitting and mitigation for administrative agency hearings, as well as state and federal actions

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) allows ERS to efficiently and effectively assess the biophysical nature of a project site and convey the gathered data in easy-to-understand maps and datasets.

Expertise in:

• Environmental permitting needs, including assessments of wetlands, protected species inventories, and mitigation bank permitting
• Spatial analysis, mapping, and reporting, including existing site analyses, Florida Land Use Cover and Forms Classification Systems (FLUCFCS), and current and historical aerial photographs
• GIS/GPS field integration, including Trimble units, for preliminary ecological assessment mapping, preliminary wetland delineation, and gopher tortoise population density analysis and permitting
• Wildlife Hazard Assessment mapping to assess surrounding areas within FAA separation criteria distances
• Database design and management

Municipalities often take a proactive approach in planning for future development within their boundaries. This master planning ensures the appropriate locations and groupings of infrastructure, industrial, commercial, and residential resources. Master planning on this scale is also utilized to identify and ensure the perpetuation of important ecological resources, which could be lost through more piecemeal development strategies.

Expertise in:

• Utilizing published resources to map and assess environmental sensitive lands within the study area
• Examining and assess wildlife resources, including occurrence and biodiversity hotspot data, to identify critical wildlife habitat areas
• Evaluating existing large-scale conservation and identify adjacent sensitive wetland and habitat areas
• Assisting municipality planners in identifying environmental areas suitable for long-term avoidance and conservation
• Performing field studies to confirm wetland quality assessments and/or imperiled wildlife/habitat
• Participating in public hearings, agency meetings, and agency negotiations
• Providing expert witness testimony

The purchase of mitigation bank credits to offset wetland impacts has become an increasingly popular mitigation option over the last ten years. Mitigation banks are ecologically superior to a patchwork of small and disjointed mitigation sites. The ERS team has successfully processed permit applications for the majority of the existing mitigation banks in northeast Florida.

Expertise in:

• All technical and administrative aspects of mitigation bank permitting
• Evaluating potential sites for mitigation use
• Conducting feasibility assessments and determining credit generation potential
• Conducting continual monitoring until all bank credits are released
• Assisting in marketing mitigation banks to potential clients

ERS provides project management and ecological services for National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) projects. Our firm works closely with all stakeholders to ensure the procedural and scientific requirements of NEPA are achieved to meet the client’s and the government review agency’s expectations. Our experienced NEPA practitioners have completed numerous NEPA documents and have a thorough understanding of the complex regulations, agency specific requirements, public involvement, and streamlining techniques that provide our clients with on budget, on schedule, legally defensible documents.

The ERS team has developed NEPA documents under multiple federal agency guidelines, including:

• Federal Highway Administration (applies to State DOT programs)
• Federal Aviation Administration
• Federal Communications Commission
• Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Expertise in assisting with NEPA documentation related to:

• Wetland Surveys/Permitting/Mitigation
• State and Federal Protected Species Surveys/Permitting/Mitigation
• Botanical Surveys
• Habitat Mapping and Assessment
• Essential Fish Habitat
• Surveys for Estuarine and Marine Submerged Aquatic Vegetation (SAV)
• Local, State, and Federal Agency coordination
• Public Meetings / Public Involvement
• Project Management

ERS aids our clients in instances where federal and state regulatory agencies require permit applicants to

 demonstrate that their projects will not adversely affect listed species or their critical habitat.

Expertise in:

• Assessing project sites for potential conflicts with endangered, threatened, and/or species of special concern
• Conducting field surveys to ascertain population sizes and trends: gopher tortoises, sand skinks, burrowing owls, red-cockaded woodpeckers, scrub jays, etc.
• Developing species mitigation plans and obtaining permits for the federally endangered indigo snake
• Bald eagle nest monitoring and permitting
• Osprey nest monitoring and permitting for removal (if necessary)
• Shorebird nest monitoring during beach restoration or dredging project
• Performing relocations and habitat creation or restoration
• Monitoring as required following a relocation
• Manatee Protection Plans
• Surveys for Estuarine and Marine Submerged Aquatic Vegetation (SAV)
• Permitting FWC-approved gopher tortoise long-term recipient sites
• Conduct gopher tortoise surveys, relocations, and mitigation efforts (FWC Authorized Gopher Tortoise Agents)

ERS aids our clients in instances where federal and state regulatory agencies require permit applicants to demonstrate that their projects will not adversely affect listed species or their critical habitat.

Expertise in:

• Assessing project sites for potential conflicts with endangered, threatened, and/or species of special concern
• Conducting field surveys to ascertain population sizes and trends: gopher tortoises, sand skinks, burrowing owls, red-cockaded woodpeckers, scrub jays, etc.
• Developing species mitigation plans and obtaining permits for the federally endangered indigo snake
• Bald eagle nest monitoring and permitting
• Osprey nest monitoring and permitting for removal (if necessary)
• Shorebird nest monitoring during beach restoration or dredging project
• Performing relocations and habitat creation or restoration
• Monitoring as required following a relocation
• Manatee Protection Plans
• Surveys for Estuarine and Marine Submerged Aquatic Vegetation (SAV)
• Permitting FWC-approved gopher tortoise long-term recipient sites
• Conduct gopher tortoise surveys, relocations, and mitigation efforts (FWC Authorized Gopher Tortoise Agents)

The wetlands regulatory programs administered by the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), state (Water Management Districts), and local agencies have become complicated and largely esoteric. ERS has a superior understanding of these agency processes to best serve our clients.

Expertise in:

• Delineating wetlands pursuant to the methodologies prescribed by USACE, and various state and local agencies; for example, the St. Johns River Water Management District (SJRWMD)
• Obtaining agency verification of flagged wetland boundaries
• Preparing, submitting, and facilitating the processing of various permit applications, including Jurisdictional Determinations (JDs) and Environmental Resource Permits (ERPs)
• Preparing “significant nexus” information and submitting it to USACE, pursuant to USACE policies resulting from the 2006 U.S. Supreme Court Rapanos decisions
• Community vegetative analysis pursuant to Uniform Mitigation Assessment Methods (UMAM) and Wetland Rapid Assessment Procedures (WRAP)
• Managing agency negotiations for wetland impact assessment and compensatory requirements
• Providing mitigation plan development and design services
• Supervising and coordinating plant material installation for mitigation projects
• Conducting mitigation project monitoring and reporting services