Environmental
Site Assessments
Burrowing Owl
Listed as Threatened on the Florida Endangered and Threatened Species List & Protected
Gopher Tortoise
Florida keystone species listed as Threatened by the Fish and Wildlife Commission & Protected
Florida Native Sabal Palm
Florida's State Tree is a protected species and may be regulated by County
ERM Codes
What is an
Environmental
Site Assessment?
It's as simple or comprehensive
as you need it to be!
Essentially, it is a comprehensive review of a particular parcel of land related to its environmental conditions for purposes of recording and listing all of the plants, trees, wetland areas, and animals located on the parcel.
More complicated inspections involve contaminated parcels with hazardous materials like parcels in the vicinity that may warrant a possible health and/or legal issue related to the particular parcel being inspected, i.e. a gas station, automotive repair shops, or dry cleaners, and even old cattle dipping vats.
The purpose is to educate the landowner/future landowner of regulated or protected species on the parcel in which environmental rules, laws, or regulations may protect a particular species of plant, tree, or animal that is Federally or state protected. Other entities that benefit from an Environmental Site Assessment are banks/lenders, land developers, insurance companies, and real estate attorneys.
This report enables the landowner/future landowner to make financially sound decisions
Why Do I Need One?
Environmental protection is no longer just a “fad” or “movement."
It is a way of life.
Environmental protection is essential to our health. Whatever your outdoor passion is, environmental regulations protect the water/land you do it on/in. As environmental regulatory policy demands continue to become more complex in response to increasing environmental issues, enforcing policies is a way to help the community protect and maintain our natural resources for a better quality of life.
We have all witnessed the long-term damage done to our natural resources over several decades of little to no policies. Most of us have come to realize that “fixing” the environment is much costlier than just doing the “right thing” and protecting the natural resources that we all use in our everyday lives.
Take for example the decades and multi-billions of dollars it is costing to repair the damage done to the Everglades. The Everglades is not just a pretty place to visit and see some alligators. It is from where eight million South Floridians get their drinking water.
And if you do not care about the birds and the bees and the alligators, or how clean the water is in which you bath your children, you may just care about the financial impact that clean water has on the economic environment in which you live:
In Florida In 2018...
To help put that into perspective, without tourism, Florida’s 8.3 million households would each have to pay $1,487 more in state and local taxes every year to maintain current levels of receipts.
For example, in the commercial and recreational fishing industry alone, Florida generated $27.8 billion in sales and supported 173,000 jobs in 2016, according to fisheries.noaa.gov.
Why does all that matter to you? If we do not have clean water and a healthy environment, most of those tourists would never bother coming to Florida, as most come to enjoy activities involving water, whether it be swimming, fishing, boating, sailing, diving, snorkeling, etc.
127 M
Tourists visited
$94 B
Tourists spent
1.5 M
Jobs supported
$54.2 B
Total wages +
proprietor income
$12 B
State and local taxes
Watch here to learn why environmental protections are essential to our health, way of life, and the economy of Florida. Videos provided by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.
Protecting Florida Together: What You Can Do
The State of Florida is committed to ensuring that all Floridians have the opportunity to enjoy clean and abundant water.
Protecting Florida Together: What Florida is Doing
The State of Florida is focused on improving water quality. Our success depends on both the actions of government agencies and you – the general public. You can help by minimizing actions that deliver nutrients into the water, reporting algal blooms, and staying informed.
Protecting Florida Together: Public Health and Safety
Protecting Florida Together is about protecting our water bodies and ensuring the health and safety of all who enjoy Florida. The State of Florida is working together with Water Management Districts and other partners to monitor and to inform the public of harmful algal blooms.