Wide view of a marshland with tall grasses, small pools of water, and distant trees under a partly cloudy sky during sunrise or sunset.

Wetland Elevation • Shoreline Change • Coastal Monitoring

Built on Observation. Proven in the Field.

Field-based coastal monitoring and geospatial services for agencies, engineering firms, restoration programs, and resource managers.

1. Surface Elevation Table (SET & RSET)

FCES measuring wetland surface elevation with a Surface Elevation Table at Canaveral National Seashore.

Surface Elevation Tables (SETs) are among the most reliable tools for tracking how wetlands respond to sea-level rise, sediment dynamics, restoration activities, and long-term environmental change. First Coast Ecological Services provides complete wetland elevation monitoring—from early project planning through long-term data collection, analysis, and reporting.

Across more than two decades of coastal-science work, FCES founder William C. “Ches” Vervaeke has installed more than 150 SETs and conducted long-term monitoring and reporting for approximately 75 stations, supporting work for the U.S. Geological Survey, National Park Service, and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

Services include equipment procurement, benchmark installation, SET/RSET construction and deployment, marker horizons, repeat measurements, QA/QC, spatial analysis, and reporting. Deliverables include elevation-change time series, quality-reviewed datasets, maps, and technical summaries.

2. GNSS Control & Positioning for Science

High-accuracy GNSS observations supporting monitoring networks: station coordinates, elevations, and control verification using dual-occupation methods and rigorous quality review. Deliverables: coordinates and elevations with complete metadata, site-control records, GIS-ready data packages.

A small metal marker or stake with a round top is partially exposed within dry, tangled grass and weeds.

3. Shoreline Change & Beach Profiling

Shoreline monitoring provides critical information for understanding how coastlines respond to storms, sea-level rise, inlet dynamics, human activities, and long-term change. FCES combines high-precision GNSS surveys, historical shoreline compilation, GIS analysis, QA/QC, and established methods such as the Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS).

Deliverables include repeatable shoreline datasets, profile plots, shoreline-change maps, and erosion/accretion summaries that support restoration planning, post-storm assessment, permitting, infrastructure protection, and resilience funding.

A coastal walkway with a handrail, leading to a sandy beach with gentle waves. The sky is clear and blue, with some vegetation along the edges of the path.

4. GIS, Data Management & Metadata

GIS-ready datasets, standards-compliant metadata, and map products built for long-term monitoring programs. Deliverables: geodatabases, metadata records, publication-quality maps.

5. Sea-Level-Rise Vulnerability Assessment

A person standing in tall green grass near a body of water, holding a pole with a device on top, with boats and houses in the background, under a partly cloudy sky.

Elevation-based vulnerability analysis for tidal wetlands and coastal habitats, integrating SET records, shoreline change, GNSS control, and GIS to translate monitoring data into defensible, management-ready findings.

Available as a subcontractor for monitoring scopes on engineering, dredging, and restoration projects. Contact us to discuss your program.

Download our Capability Statement (PDF)