Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge – Kennedy Space Center
Merritt Island, FL
Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1963 for the protection of migratory birds as part of an interagency agreement with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Located on Florida’s Space Coast, the refuge spans over 140,000 acres and serves as a home to over 1,500 species of plants and wildlife. The refuge is partly connected through a series of levee systems originally constructed in the 1960s. These levees not only support the existence of diverse wildlife populations including threatened and endangered species, but they support wildlife viewing, photography, recreation and sport fishing. In 2022, Hurricane Ian along with other destructive storms damaged the refuge and the levee systems along with it. The following year, JBPro was hired to survey sections of the levees as part of a larger work effort to restore parts of the refuge.
How JBPro Served This Project
As part of the first phase by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to restore and rehabilitate the Moore Creek area of Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge that suffered extensive damages from recent hurricanes and storms, JBPro worked with Pond & Company to survey two different sections (C-15-E and C-20-C) of damaged levees totaling to around 4 miles in length.
Our Role
To make sure the levee system in the refuge could still be enjoyed and remain a safe haven for Florida’s native species as well as, JBPro worked on Pond & Company’s project team to help survey the levees and provide aerial imagery and mapping. Our surveying team conducted a topographic survey of four miles of damaged levees and captured aerial imagery using specialized drone equipment operated by JBPro’s Certified Remote Pilots. The aerial drone and LiDAR imagery was then processed and merged to create an orthomosaic map—a geometrically corrected top-down view aerial image—of the project area.
The topographic survey and aerial data were then handed off to the engineering team, so they would know the project area’s precise topography and conditions before designing the plans for its restoration which could involve reshaping, filing, grading, and/or armoring sections of the levees.
The Challenges
Since Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge was established as an overlay of NASA’s John F. Kennedy Space Center, we needed to make sure our survey work was conducted safely and effectively along with the needed security clearance to fly our specialized drone equipment. We also needed to be mindful of the wildlife in the area and not disturb their natural habitat.
The Solutions
To get the project done, our team coordinated drone flight schedules with three different entities—the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA), the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).Also, our team was careful to avoid wildlife—though some of the local residents were curious about our presence during our surveying!
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