Michael Burton, CEP

How do you create a wildlife habitat from a 175-acre parcel of abandoned farmland? It was no small task, but our ecologists helped Manatee County achieve that lofty goal by creating upland, wetland, and intertidal habitats and replacing invasive plants with coastal South Tampa Bay native plants.

Our team used various habitat restoration, creation, and management techniques to provide a recreation space with a true 'wow” factor. Success depended upon finding emerging opportunities to fund… Show more

How do you create a wildlife habitat from a 175-acre parcel of abandoned farmland? It was no small task, but our ecologists helped Manatee County achieve that lofty goal by creating upland, wetland, and intertidal habitats and replacing invasive plants with coastal South Tampa Bay native plants.

Our team used various habitat restoration, creation, and management techniques to provide a recreation space with a true 'wow” factor. Success depended upon finding emerging opportunities to fund the project, coordinating volunteer planting days, identification of a seagrass mitigation site, creating botanical diversity, and maintaining high construction standards to warrant community buy-in.

Restoration planning on this parcel included an analysis of the history and underlying soils of the site; identifying the specific areas that could benefit from enhancement; and the creation of entirely new habitats. The overall restoration plan considered not only onsite landforms and cover, but also adjacent natural areas and resources, and how Perico fits into the Tampa Bay region's estuaries, bays, headlands and other county and state conservation lands.

To achieve our goals, the work was strategically phased to include first the removal of invasive plants, and then creating dunes, freshwater wetlands, and saltmarshes; constructing the rookery island basin and visitor parking; seagrass mitigation and internal trails; connecting inter-preserve trails; and finally ongoing habitat management.

At a final project cost of $1.4 million, this transformative project has provided the community with a spectacular coastal preserve for future generations to enjoy – at a nominal cost.

Awards

2016
National Association of Environmental Professionals Excellence Awards, National Environmental Excellence Award
2013
Florida Planning and Zoning Association Planning Awards, 2013 Outstanding Sustainable Plan / Project Show less