A signed environmental baseline in three days

The owner wanted to know if a 10.6-acre parcel in rural DeSoto County could support a build. The wetland extent was unknown. There was possible listed-species habitat. And the ground already carried disturbances: fill, a debris pile, and a pond. Each one could change what gets built and where.

We ran a full field ESA. We used a Trimble R780 GPS to fix property corners, wetland lines, and soil sample points. We advanced five soil borings to read the hydric conditions. We mapped FLUCCS across four land cover types. We checked NWI data against what we saw in the field, assessed listed-species potential under FWC guidance, and searched the Florida Master Site File for cultural resources.

We signed the ESA report three days after field work. We delineated 7.15 acres of jurisdictional wetlands, forested and herbaceous. No listed species. No cultural resources. Every disturbance mapped. The owner got a clean environmental baseline to plan around.

You can't plan a build on a parcel you don't understand. An unknown wetland, a listed-species surprise, an unrecorded disturbance: any one can redraw what's buildable after the money's committed. A signed baseline in three days means the owner planned on facts, not guesses, and kept moving.