Airport Off-Site Wetland Mitigation

This 9.06± acre forested/scrub-shrub Wetland Mitigation project consisted of four separate wetland creation “pods” that were constructed in Selbyville, Delaware during spring 2012 as off-site compensatory mitigation for runway expansion activities conducted at the Delaware Coastal Airport in Georgetown in order to resolve an outstanding wetland violation from the 1990s,

Landmark scientists coordinated closely with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Sussex County Engineering Department to plan and design the wetland complex that included performing a wetland investigation and delineation of the subject property. In addition, Landmark conducted an Environmental Impact Assessment (including a habitat assessment and a rare, threatened and endangered survey), and performed subsurface soil investigations to determine seasonal high groundwater depths.

Based on these investigations, Landmark developed a wetland mitigation plan and report that detailed the proposed wetland creation design, construction methods, wetland plantings and seed mixes, schedule, and monitoring plans. Once the wetland plan was approved by the EPA, Landmark supervised the mitigation wetland construction and planting, inspected and monitored the project area throughout the first growing season, and conducted post-construction surveys of wildlife, vegetation, hydrology and soil within the project area.

Landmark was to continue to monitor post-construction conditions within the project area and submit findings and recommendations to the EPA in annual monitoring reports for up to nine years. But after the fifth year, the EPA required only site visits for the sixth and final year.