Updated 08/29/06
Intracoastal Waterway, Broward County – Phase I
Summary of Work Performed
August 2000
We have essentially completed Task
I-A (Data Collection) and Task I-C (Establishment of Long-Term Requirements),
based on all information presently available.
Specifically, we have reviewed all available sediment chemistry data for
the Broward County project area (Task I-C.1), including data recently obtained
by the Jacksonville District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ (COE) in their
recent comprehensive channel sediment survey. However, additional COE core
boring logs and grain-size data expected from the same sediment survey,
although included in the same contract, was not obtained and will not be
available to assist in the present planning effort. Absent this data, we have selected appropriate sediment sampling locations for our planned sampling program,
scheduled for the week of September 4th. We compiled and reviewed all available Jacksonville District,
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ (COE) archival dredging records and channel
surveys and projected a preliminary estimate of future dredging and material
storage requirements (Task I-C.2). We completed our analysis of the final data
set from the Jacksonville District’s three line survey of the entire ICWW,
including the Broward County segment, and updated our preliminary projections
based on the results of this
survey. We inventoried all existing
easements within the project area based on our review of relevant COE Real
Estate maps and Control Data sheets for the Intracoastal Waterway, Jacksonville
to Miami, and 1994 FIND blueline aerials, evaluated these easements with
respect to their potential material storage capacity (Task I-C.3), and
calculated the project area’s existing material storage capacity (Task I-C.4).
We preliminarily defined operational channel reaches and projected the 50-year
material storage requirement for each reach. However, given the concentration
of existing shoaling around Hillsborough Inlet and the potential for beach
placement of appropriate channel sediment in this area, final definition of
operational channel reaches must wait until we receive the data from our
sediment sampling program to delineate the channel segment containing beach
quality material.
The results of Task I allowed the preliminary evaluation of likely material management concepts (Task II-A) and the identification of 60 additional candidate sites (Task II-C) based on an office review of 1994 NAPP color-IR aerial photography, USGS 7.5-minute topographic quadrangle maps, Comprehensive Plan Future Land Use maps and U.S. Department of the Interior wetland inventory maps. We are proceeding with the evaluation of these candidate sites (Task IV). To update each candidate site’s present land use, we obtained current (1999) Broward County tax aerials for all candidate sites. Through review of these aerials, we eliminated 13 candidate sites with obvious land use conflicts (i.e., recent development) not shown in the 1994 aerials, and thereby reduced the number of required candidate site inspections. During the weeks of April 10th and April 24th, a engineer-biologist team inspected all remaining candidate sites as well as the six existing sites with some potential for continued use (Task III). We are now completing the mapping of land use and vegetation communities on each site to Level 3 of the Florida Land-Use and Cover and Forms Classification System (FLUCS) (FDOT, 1985), based on the 1999 Broward County aerials and proceeding with each site’s evaluation (Task IV) under the full standard set of engineering, operational, environmental, socioeconomic, and land-use criteria. We have thus far received over 40 candidate site maps from our biological and mapping subcontractor and are now drafting site data summary sheets and narratives for these sites. We are now preparing all materials to present the results of Task IV at the next round of Technical and Citizens’ Advisory Committee meetings/public workshops in November.