Port Everglades, USA

Port Everglades (Florida, USA) provides an example of mitigation wetlands and mangroves created next to port expansion works, while also being situated within a broader coastal wetland environment. Located in a highly urbanized coastal setting, the port is embedded within and adjacent to coastal mangrove and wetland systems that have been retained over time, which contribute to a natural buffer between port infrastructure and surrounding coastal and urban environments.

A key intervention occurred during the Southport Turning Notch Expansion Project, where more than 17 acres of submerged and mangrove habitat, including associated transitional buffers, were created according to the contractor (EarthBalance, n.d.). The port describes a 16.5-acre upland enhancement with about 70,000 mangroves and wetland plants (Port Everglades, n.d.); the figures reflect different scopes. These wetlands were established as part of environmental mitigation requirements linked to port expansion, replacing an 8.7-acre mangrove conservation easement needed for the new berths (Port Everglades, n.d.).

Functionally, both the retained and constructed wetland systems provide a range of environmental services directly relevant to interface management. They contribute to habitat provision, supporting coastal and marine species. In addition, the presence of vegetated wetland areas at and around the port boundary creates a form of ecological separation, limiting direct exposure of adjacent coastal environments to port-related impacts.

From a spatial perspective, Port Everglades illustrates how natural systems, both preserved and newly constructed, can be embedded within active port layouts to act as interface elements. Although the constructed wetlands were primarily delivered as mitigation, they operate alongside retained mangrove and wetland environments as part of a broader coastal landscape framework, forming a buffer between operational areas, waterways, and the surrounding urbanized context.

The Port Everglades case illustrates how, even within a highly constrained and infrastructure-intensive port, mitigation wetlands can be placed alongside retained mangrove areas at the interface between operational areas and surrounding waterways. Their long-term buffering performance has not been monitored in the sources reviewed.