Econlockhatchee River Wetland Mitigation Design

The St. Johns River Water Management District (SJRWMD) and the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) issued a 5-year wetland planting and monitoring permit to Orange County Utilities for the installation of 4.9-miles of potable water main that resulted in cumulative wetlands impacts. 

DRMP obtained permits for the construction of the utilities and designed a wetland creation mitigation plan, construction plan and monitoring plan as wetland creation mitigation adjacent to the Econlockhatchee River to compensate for wetland impacts incurred as a result of the project.  Biologists also conducted the baseline vegetation monitoring followed by the annual vegetative monitoring of the wetland creation area for five years and submitted the resulting data reports to the SJRWMD.  Data submitted to the SJRWMD quantitatively described the percent survival and diversity of planted species, recorded growth and percent coverage of herbaceous species, surface water elevation referenced to NGVD for the wetland area, photographic monitoring of vegetation growth and wildlife utilization.

DRMP’s mitigation plan allowed for the creation of wetlands to replace the previously damaged wetlands from much needed utility construction. The project required extensive documentation and monitoring, which provides Orange County Utilities with much needed information to assist with making environmentally conscious decisions in the future.