Looking back at 2022, Earthology celebrated some important milestones:
New Employees and New Offices
Earthology hired two new employees, a hydrogeologist and a Level one Environmental Scientist. We are ecstatic to have them aboard and working for us in 2023!
We opened two new offices, including our newest field office, last year. Two employees relocated to the field office to accommodate the PSRP-SWPF, a large step for us.
Aquifer Storage and Recovery
Our new hydrogeologist is working on hydrogeological and engineering construction services for the Aquifer Storage and Recovery Project associated with the construction of the Upper Floridan aquifer , Avon Park Permeable Zone , and Surficial aquifer monitoring well, and aquifer testing at the L-63N site. Some of the services our hydrogeologist provides include daily construction oversight, data collection, and reporting and permitting compliance.
Picayune Strand – Southwest Protection Features
Earthology also received the green light to begin the monitoring work for Picayune Strand Restoration Project (PSRP) for the United States Army Corps of Engineers. We are collecting stage and flow, water, sediment, and fish tissue samples for the PSRP Southwest Protection Feature levee and additional conveyance features (SWPF). Our newest Environmental Scientist is working on this monitoring project. This data collection effort will provide hydrologic, ecological, and water quality monitoring to support adaptive monitoring and adaptive management of the SWPF. This project aligns with Earthology’s mission statement. This is also Earthology’s first USACE contract.
Two of our Earthologists at a monitoring station in a canal along Tamiami Trail (US-41).
Burrowing Owls at the Airport
Earthology also completed the first year of a Burrowing Owl Management plan, awarded by Palm Beach County Department of Airports to scope, examine tunnels near the runway, and excavate inactive burrows from 4 different airports in the state of Florida. Collapsing inactive burrowing owl nests help reduce bird-plane collisions. We scoped and excavated 150 burrows!
An image of a burrowing owl (Athene cunicularia) circling back to investigate a scope at Palm Beach International Airport.
Sea Level Rise and Resiliency
Our Resiliency Grants Manager secured three major grants for the South Florida Water Management District in 2022: the FEMA BRIC (Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities) - Building Resiliency with Green and Gray Infrastructure, C-8 Basin of Miami-Dade County ($50,000,000), Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (FEMA) - Osceola County Flood Protection Level of Service Study ($250,000), and the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (FEMA) - Palm Beach County Flood Protection Level of Service Study ($250,000) for a total of $50,500,000 in 2023. Funds will become available this spring.
Florida Breeding Bird Atlas II
One of our project managers assisted with the Florida Breeding Bird Atlas (BBA) II species accounts. The Florida BBA II species accounts will be published by the Florida Ornithological Society and will include BBA I and BBA II species maps. Comparison of BBA I and BBA II maps will evaluate the changes in breeding distribution over a 25-year period between the atlas efforts, USGS Breeding Bird Survey graphs, and Florida population trends. The "grand release" of the BBA II was at the Fall Florida Ornithological Society (FOS) Meeting, October 7, 2022, and will be published on the FOS website.
2022 was a fantastic year for us as a company, and we hope to make 2023 just as remarkable of one!