Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan

The South Florida Water Management District is responsible for water resource management and environmental protection in a geographic region that is home to about six million residents. The region's 17,930 square miles include vast areas of agricultural lands, water conservation areas, and areas of enormous urban growth and development. To support this client, BEM has provided numerous services, including:

• Evaluating the suitability of properties targeted for wetlands acquisition and restoration, and water storage projects for the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Program (CERP);
• Using ecological risk assessment approaches to address contaminant exposures on proposed restoration projects up to 24,000 acres;
• Evaluating historical agricultural land uses that caused residual contamination by persistent organochlorine pesticides, inorganics and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), using sampling and analysis designs integrated with ecological risk-based assessment and land management objectives, and
• Coordinating all aspects of the design and implementation of these projects with natural resource trustees and other stakeholders, including the US Department of Agriculture, the Natural Resource Conservation Service and the US Fish and Wildlife Service.

For more information, contact Don Richardson, Director at (908) 598-2600 x183 or at drichardson@bemsys.com