Fishing Trip! Egans Creek, Amelia Island (FL)

Coordinated by Joe Pfeiffer with KCI Technologies
Depart Hotel at 6 a.m.; return to Hotel by 2 or 3 p.m.
Optional and Additional Fee $365 | Limited Seats!

This year’s fishing trip will be an inshore trip fishing the waters that surround Amelia Island, FL. The trip will start around 7:00 am and be back to the dock 11:00 am. Each boat that will be part of this trip will have 3 anglers plus the captain onboard. Live bait (shrimp and mud minnows) will be the bait of choice and will be targeting redfish, trout, flounder, black drum, etc. All tackle/bait provided. The tournament will give individual trophies/prizes for largest fish by species for redfish, trout, flounder and black drum, plus 1st, 2nd and 3rd place team by total length (inches) of fish per boat. Primarily catch and release, but enough will be kept for a “catch of the day” lunch.

Trip will leave conference hotel by bus at 6:00 am., light breakfast in route (muffins, coffee, juice) and a family style “catch of the day” lunch will be provided at a local restaurant at the end of the day. Back to the hotel at 3:00 pm.

Trophies for winners will be presented at lunch during conference. Limited Seats.

Hosted by Resource Environmental Solutions (RES)
An approximate 45-minute drive.
Dress: Long pants and closed-toe shoes are a must. Recommend appropriate hat and sun protection shirt. Bug spray will be provided.
Field trips are optional, pre-registration is required or if space available ($115 early fee). Included with Federal Government registration; all others pay fee. Box Lunch provided.

Highlands Ranch Mitigation Bank (HRMB) is an active 1,576-acre mitigation bank in Middleburg, Florida, owned and managed by RES. HRMB is an exemplary example of pine plantation restored into mesic flatwoods and sandhill communities with isolated and contiguous wetlands of enhanced mixed forested wetland and bay swamp within the Ocala to Osceola Greenway. Learn about 404 banking credits and restoration, prescribed burns and gopher tortoise mitigation. HRMB offers compensatory mitigation for wetland impacts in the Northern St Johns River and Northern Coastal Basin 4 to provide state and federal freshwater forested UMAM credits permitted by the St. Johns River Water Management District (SJRWMD) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). HRMB was the first mitigation bank to include a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) approved gopher tortoise recipient site on its substantial upland areas. Since implementation of work with HRMB in 2014, the staff in SWCA’s JAX office engaged in vegetation monitoring activities including plant species identification in the canopy, subcanopy, and understory and continued as a sub-consultant to RES when they acquired HRMB in 2021. Qualitative and quantitative vegetation data is compiled and compared to the vegetation success criteria specified by the permit conditions identified by the USACE and SJRWMD. RES participates in planning, implementation, and assessment of prescribed burns. The on-site weather station and automated hydrologic monitoring devices as part of a hydrologic restoration plan. Project is ongoing.

Hosted by Hosted by Riverfront Associates, LLC
An approximate 30 to 45-minute drive.
Dress: Recommend long pants, closed shoes, hat and sun protection shirt and bug spray.
Field trips are optional, pre-registration is required or if space available ($115 early fee). Included with Federal Government registration; all others pay fee. Box Lunch provided.

The 92.36-acre site is located in Duval County, along the shoreline of the St. Johns River, south of Heckscher Drive, in Duval County. The NFSMMB is one of the few active saltmarsh restoration projects on the FL east coast. The mitigation efforts include re-establishment and enhancement of tidal salt marsh previously used as a dredged material disposal site. The site is very accessible by car and it’s a prime bird watching area. The wetlands within NFSMB have been designated as a birding “Hotspot” by eBird.org, a worldwide database of bird sightings hosted by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Implementation activities were completed in 2021.

Hosted by Hosted by St. Johns River Water Management District
An approximate 30-minute drive.
Dress: Recommend long pants, closed shoes, hat and sun protection shirt and bug spray.
Field trips are optional, pre-registration is required or if space available ($115 early fee). Included with Federal Government registration; all others pay fee. Box Lunch provided.

The Shands Bridge submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) restoration is proposed to provide a portion of the mitigation required to offset unavoidable adverse impacts associated with the First Coast Expressway (FCX) project. This road project will result in direct unavoidable adverse impacts to ±502.56-acres and secondary impacts to ±426.38-acres and 7.26-acres of temporary impacts to forested wetlands with a total Functional Loss of 147.52 UMAM. There are 2.24-acres of shading impacts to the SAV community with a total functional loss of 0.747-UMAM units. The mitigation proposed will provide a functional gain of 0.842-UMAM units to the SAV community at the Shands Bridge causeway. The existing bridge was dedicated in October of 1963.

The excavation will reestablish the natural hydrology present before the bridge causeway was constructed. . This restoration will provide 0.84-units of UMAM functional gain for the submerged aquatic vegetation community adjacent to the proposed project. The Water Environment and Location and Landscape Support will both see benefits due to proposed activities. In addition, the restoration areas will be monitored to meet the goals of the mitigation plan. The mitigation area will be below the mean high water line (MHW) upon completion of the project.

This mitigation will be within sovereign submerged lands (SSL) as governed by 18-21 of the Florida Administrative Code (FAC) and will not require long term management. This permittee responsible mitigation is being implemented with a focus on the watershed needs and is consistent with previous guidance from the USACE. Impacts to wetlands that support the St Johns River should be offset with mitigation that supports the St Johns River. The St Johns River is the receiving water body for the proposed impacts and the proposed mitigation area. The proposed impacts occur in the Lower St Johns 8-digit, #03080103 watershed boundaries and not within the core foraging area any documented wood stork colonies. The proposed permittee responsible SAV mitigation is located in the Lower St Johns 8-digit, #03080103 watershed and will provide minimal habitat to support Wood Stork foraging.

Hosted by Weyerhaeuser
An approximate 30-to-45-minute drive.
Dress: Recommend long pants, closed shoes, hat and sun protection shirt and bug spray.
Field trips are optional, pre-registration is required or if space available ($115 early fee). Included with Federal Government registration; all others pay fee. Box Lunch provided.

St. Johns Mitigation bank was established in 2017 as a wetland mitigation bank located outside of Jacksonville, FL. The bank is approximately 3,500 acres in size and is permitted with both St. Johns River Water Management District and US Army Corps of Engineers to help offset wetland impacts to forested wetland systems. The site has historically been used for pine plantation/silviculture and was heavily altered in the past to accommodate growing pine trees. The bank plan includes several activities to restore the on-site ecological communities such as thinning of timber, implementation of a prescribed burn plan and a series of hydrologic improvements strategically installed throughout the bank to help restore the overall hydrologic conditions. At this time, the timber thinning and hydrologic improvements have been initiated throughout portions of the bank with the goal of completing these activities in 2023.

Hosted by St. Mark’s Pond Property, LLC
An approximate 45-minute drive.
Dress: Recommend long pants, closed shoes, hat and sun protection shirt and bug spray.
Field trips are optional, pre-registration is required or if space available ($115 early fee). Included with Federal Government registration; all others pay fee. Box Lunch provided.

The 756-acre St. Marks Pond Mitigation Bank was approved in 2014. This site contains an array of distinctive communities, ranging from Basin Swamp/Basin Marsh to Mesic Flatwoods and Sand Pine/Scrub communities. The primary restoration efforts included 1) elimination of silvicultural activities thorough thinning/flattening of bed and furrow complexes, 2) implementation of a prescribed fire management program, 3) treatment/removal of willow-encroached areas within marsh communities, 4) planting of impacted sand pine communities, and 5) treatment of invasive/exotic species. Implementation activities began in 2015. The site is mostly accessible by car. However, airboat is required to access the basin marsh communities.