C-9 Canal Expansion Wildlife Enforcement Resolution

The municipality started a construction project to expand 3 miles of a canal and add dry detention areas under an 82-acre powerline corridor. A local resident called the State wildlife agency (Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, FWC) and claimed that the construction harmed threatened gopher tortoises. The construction project was shut down, and FWC indicated that permitting was needed - a potential construction delay of months and potentially high mitigation costs for the disturbed 2 acres. The municipality called WGI to help. Within days, WGI coordinated with the municipality and FWC to develop a plan to resolve the issue, conducted a gopher tortoise survey along the entire 3-mile corridor (82 acres), and coordinated a field meeting with FWC to resolve the issue. WGI determined that none of the burrows were that of gopher tortoises and, based on an analysis of offsite and adjoining lands, successfully concluded that the disturbed area (2 acres) did not contain gopher tortoises before construction. This eliminated the need for any gopher tortoise permitting, and the construction resumed with minimal delay and no violations.

Project Highlights:

• This is an example of WGI’s ability to quickly resolve an environmental compliance issue