Site History
The Long Island Marsh Offsite Mitigation Area (LIMOMA), developed in partnership with The Mosaic Company, is located in southeastern DeSoto County within the greater Long Island Marsh landscape and Peace River Watershed. Historically, this landscape functioned as an expansive freshwater marsh system characterized by hydric soils, herbaceous wetland vegetation, seasonal inundation, and interconnected surface-water flow.
Beginning in the late 1960s, the natural hydrology of the area was substantially altered to support agricultural production. The Montgomery Canal was excavated through Long Island Marsh to drain the property and surrounding lands, effectively dividing the historic marsh and redirecting water toward Prairie Creek. A network of smaller feeder canals, perimeter dikes, and a surface-water bypass canal were subsequently constructed to provide greater control over water levels for sod farming. Drain-tile systems were later installed to further regulate surface and shallow groundwater levels. Sod farming continued until approximately 2003, when the property was converted to cattle pasture.
Today, Mosaic is using the property to establish the Long Island Marsh Mitigation Bank, transforming historically altered agricultural lands into restored and protected native ecosystems. As the mitigation bank sponsor and property owner, Mosaic is investing in the restoration, enhancement, and long-term management of wetlands and associated habitats. Successful ecological restoration allows the mitigation bank to generate regulated mitigation credits that can be used to offset permitted, unavoidable impacts to wetlands and other aquatic resources within the bank’s approved service area. In this way, the project provides a mechanism for large-scale restoration and permanent ecological management while helping meet regional compensatory mitigation needs.
Within the 1,059.3-acre Earth Tech project area, decades of drainage and agricultural use are now being addressed through extensive ecological restoration. Work includes earthwork and hydrologic improvements, invasive and nuisance vegetation management, prescribed burning, large-scale native plant production and installation, wildlife coordination, water-quality monitoring, and long-term vegetation management. These efforts are designed to re-establish freshwater marsh, forested wetland, native rangeland, and associated upland communities while restoring more natural patterns of water storage and movement across the landscape.
Ultimately, LIMOMA represents the transformation of a heavily altered agricultural landscape back toward a functioning and interconnected native ecosystem. Restoring these systems provides important ecological functions, including water-quality treatment, flood attenuation, nutrient cycling, aquifer recharge, improved habitat connectivity, and valuable habitat for native wildlife. Through large-scale restoration and long-term management, the project will provide lasting ecological benefits to the Long Island Marsh landscape and the greater Peace River Watershed.
Property Preparation
Earthwork and site preparation efforts at LIMOMA focused on creating the appropriate conditions for successful wetland and upland restoration. Activities included excavation and strategic fill placement to achieve engineered grade specifications and establish the elevations, slopes, and hydrologic conditions necessary to support the targeted native plant communities. Legacy structures and other materials were also demolished and removed to prepare previously disturbed areas for restoration.
Controlled burns have also been utilized throughout the project as an important site preparation and land management tool. These prescribed burns help clear existing vegetation and accumulated plant material prior to planting, reduce competition from undesirable vegetation, and prepare restoration areas for the establishment of native species. The use of prescribed fire also supports the natural ecological processes associated with many of Florida’s native plant communities and contributes to the long-term management of the restored landscape.
Additional improvements included required fence installation to secure and clearly define the mitigation area, protect restoration efforts, and support ongoing site management as well as upstream and downstream water-quality sampling and reporting during active excavation, providing additional oversight as grading and hydrologic restoration progress. Together, these preparation activities establish the physical and ecological foundation needed for planting, habitat development, and the long-term performance of the restored wetland and upland communities.
Herbicide Pre-Treatment & Maintenance
Pre-treatment herbicide applications and ongoing vegetation management play an important role in preparing restoration areas for successful establishment. Prior to planting and hydrologic restoration, targeted treatments are used to control invasive, exotic, and nuisance vegetation, reduce competition, and create more favorable growing conditions for the native species being introduced throughout the site.
Vegetation management continues well beyond initial site preparation. Individual restoration areas receive multiple treatment cycles as needed, while newly planted areas are continually monitored and treated to control the reestablishment of undesirable vegetation. Reducing competition during the critical establishment period gives newly installed native plants greater access to sunlight, water, nutrients, and growing space, providing them with the best opportunity to survive, establish, and thrive.
Long-term vegetation management continues across LIMOMA for multiple years following installation, helping protect the investment made in restoration while guiding plant communities toward their intended ecological condition. This sustained approach supports the development of diverse freshwater marsh, forested wetland, native rangeland, and upland habitats while reducing the potential for invasive vegetation to compromise restoration success.
Contract Growing & Littoral Plant Harvesting
Supporting a restoration project at the scale of LIMOMA requires an extensive plant production, procurement, and harvesting program operating alongside the site’s ongoing earthwork and restoration activities. Across the project, 46 native plant species are represented, with plant material ranging from millions of harvested bare-root wetland plants to hundreds of thousands of specially grown liners and larger containerized plants.
More than 4.1 million bare-root wetland plants are required during the primary construction phase alone, making large-scale permitted littoral harvesting one of the most significant components of the project’s plant procurement strategy. Earth Tech Environmental conducts this harvesting from approved donor sites under specific harvest permits associated with LIMOMA. Plants are carefully harvested, prepared, transported, and installed within designated restoration areas, requiring close coordination between harvesting crews and field installation teams. Because bare-root material must be handled efficiently to maintain plant health and viability, harvesting schedules are closely aligned with site readiness and installation progress.
In addition to harvested material, LIMOMA requires an extensive dedicated contract-growing program. More than 600,000 liners must be produced specifically in 4.5-inch-deep liner trays to meet project requirements, along with more than 31,000 one-gallon plants and 32,000 three-gallon plants. Producing this volume of native material requires significantly more than simply maintaining nursery inventory—it requires long-term production planning around the anticipated needs of the restoration project.
Contract growing begins well before plants are needed in the field. Earth Tech’s nursery team must anticipate when individual species should be propagated, transplanted, and grown to specification so that sufficient quantities are ready as different portions of the site become available for planting. Production schedules are continually coordinated with the pace of earthwork, site preparation, hydrologic restoration, and field installation while also accounting for seasonal growing patterns, weather, temperature, and other environmental factors that can influence plant development.
The scale of this effort has resulted in Earth Tech Environmental’s DeSoto nursery being dedicated entirely to plant production for LIMOMA, with more than 100,000 plants actively growing at the facility at any given time. Maintaining this continuous production pipeline requires ongoing propagation, transplanting, irrigation, fertilization, plant health monitoring, inventory management, and coordination between nursery and field operations as completed material leaves the nursery and new production takes its place.
Together, the combination of permitted bare-root harvesting and dedicated contract growing provides the millions of native plants necessary to restore LIMOMA’s wetland and upland communities. Coordinating 46 species across multiple plant sizes, production timelines, donor sites, nursery facilities, and active restoration areas represents one of the most extensive logistical components of the project and allows plant availability to remain closely aligned with the progression of restoration work in the field.
Native Habitat Creation
Native habitat creation at LIMOMA is focused on restoring ecological integrity at a landscape scale. Across the project’s 1,059.3 acres, more than 4.5 million native plants will be installed to establish and enhance a diverse mosaic of wetland and upland habitats. These restored ecosystems are expected to provide meaningful habitat benefits for more than 600 species of native wildlife, while rebuilding natural systems within a landscape increasingly affected by habitat loss and fragmentation.
Restoration incorporates regionally appropriate native grasses, sedges, rushes, herbaceous species, shrubs, and canopy trees selected to recreate the structure and function of natural Florida plant communities. As these communities establish, they will improve hydrologic function, stabilize soils, support nutrient cycling and water quality, and provide the varied vegetation structure necessary for healthy and resilient ecosystems.
The diversity of habitats being created will provide essential resources for a wide range of wildlife, including birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, fish, pollinators, aquatic organisms, and invertebrates. Wetland and upland communities will work together to provide forage, nesting and breeding areas, shelter, and seasonal refuge while creating important connections that allow wildlife to move between habitat types throughout the property.
Ultimately, LIMOMA represents far more than a large-scale planting effort. By restoring more than a thousand acres of interconnected native habitat, the project is rebuilding the ecological structure and natural processes necessary for a functioning, resilient landscape. As the restoration matures, its ecological value will continue to grow—supporting greater biodiversity, strengthening habitat connectivity, and providing long-term benefits for Southwest Florida’s native wildlife and natural resources.
Monitoring & Long-Term Management
Ecological restoration does not end once planting is complete. LIMOMA incorporates an extensive monitoring and long-term management program designed to evaluate restoration progress, identify changing site conditions, and ensure restored habitats continue developing toward their intended ecological goals. Earth Tech Environmental’s responsibilities include vegetation assessment and monitoring, soil monitoring, water-quality sampling and reporting, wildlife coordination, agency inspections, and continued invasive and nuisance vegetation management.
Monitoring begins during active restoration and continues as newly established plant communities mature. Vegetation establishment, site conditions, and restoration performance are evaluated over time, while ongoing maintenance and targeted treatments allow management strategies to respond to conditions observed in the field. Quarterly agency inspections and coordination with Mosaic further support this process and provide opportunities for adaptive management when necessary.
This long-term approach is essential to restoration at the scale of LIMOMA. By combining installation with continued monitoring, maintenance, reporting, and adaptive management, the project can respond to environmental changes and establishment challenges while protecting the substantial investment made in restoring more than a thousand acres of native habitat.
$13,089,428
Total Contract Value
±4,746,643
Plants to be Installed
±600
Wildlife Species Benefitting From This Project
1,059.3
Total Acreage
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