About Us
What We Can Do For You
Coastal Conservation Group, LLC partners with project managers, permitting agencies, project sponsors, coastal construction companies, and federal, state, and local government entities to ensure that all environmental permitting requirements and endangered species protection measures are met with precision and accountability. Our work is grounded in a thorough command of the regulatory frameworks that govern coastal and upland ecosystems — including the Endangered Species Act (ESA), the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), and the state-level regulations administered by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP). With FWC-permitted marine turtle monitoring, certified gopher tortoise agent authorization, and decades of hands-on experience managing Habitat Conservation Plans and Incidental Take Permits, our credentials reflect a genuine depth of expertise that goes well beyond standard environmental consulting. At Coastal Conservation Group, compliance and conservation are not competing priorities — they are complementary ones. We bring the same commitment to protecting Florida's threatened and endangered species that we bring to serving our clients, crafting and implementing management plans that support sustainable coexistence between development and the natural environments that make Florida's coastlines worth protecting.
Tara Dodson Co-Founder | Principal Consultant
Tara Dodson brings over 20 years of professional experience in environmental management, endangered species protection, and regulatory compliance to her role as Co-Founder and Principal Consultant of Coastal Conservation Group, LLC. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Biology and a Master of Business Administration with a concentration in Sustainability and Environmental Compliance — a combination of scientific foundation and administrative expertise that uniquely positions her to navigate the intersection of conservation science and regulatory practice.
Prior to co-founding Coastal Conservation Group, Tara served as the program manager for St. Johns County's federal Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) and Incidental Take Permit (ITP) — a comprehensive regulatory framework developed under Section 10 of the Endangered Species Act governing the protection of threatened and endangered species along 41 miles of publicly accessible St. Johns County coastline. In this capacity, Tara was responsible for the full lifecycle management of the HCP and ITP, including regulatory agency coordination, annual reporting, permit compliance oversight, and the development and implementation of species-specific protection measures for nesting sea turtles and the federally threatened Anastasia Island beach mouse (Peromyscus polionotus phasma).
Throughout her career, Tara has cultivated extensive working relationships with key regulatory agencies including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP), and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). Her firsthand experience on the agency compliance side of environmental permitting gives Coastal Conservation Group's clients a distinct advantage — ensuring that permit applications, management plans, and environmental assessments are prepared with a thorough understanding of what regulatory agencies require and expect.
As an FWC-licensed Marine Turtle Permit Holder and founding member of the region's first Shorebird Alliance, Tara's field credentials complement her regulatory expertise, reflecting a career defined by an equally strong commitment to on-the-ground conservation and science-based environmental management. At Coastal Conservation Group, she brings that full breadth of experience to bear in service of clients seeking reliable, knowledgeable, and conservation-minded environmental consulting across Florida's coastal and upland ecosystems.
Robert Fraser Co-Founder | Field Operations Lead
Robert Fraser is a seasoned field conservationist and Co-Founder of Coastal Conservation Group, LLC, bringing over 14 years of permitted, hands-on experience in marine turtle monitoring, shorebird surveying, and gopher tortoise relocation across St. Johns County's coastal and upland ecosystems. His career has been defined by a consistent record of regulatory accountability, meticulous data collection, and collaborative working relationships with federal and state agencies, environmental permitting professionals, and coastal construction contractors.
Robert holds multiple FWC-issued permits and certifications, serving in the capacities of Marine Turtle Permit Holder, certified Shorebird & Seabird Monitor, and most recently as an FWC Authorized Gopher Tortoise Relocation Agent — a breadth of field credentials that reflects both the scope of his conservation experience and the diverse regulatory demands of coastal development projects in Northeast Florida. His familiarity with the compliance expectations of agencies including the FWC, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP), the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) ensures that field operations under his oversight consistently meet the highest standards of permit adherence and species protection.
As a marine turtle permit holder, Robert has spent over 14 nesting seasons conducting systematic beach surveys, documenting nest inventories, collecting critical population data, and ensuring that the monitoring requirements of coastal construction permits are met throughout active project periods. His experience spans a wide range of coastal construction contexts — including beach renourishment, coastal armoring, dune restoration, and shoreline development projects — where his on-site presence and field documentation have provided contractors and project managers with the oversight necessary to maintain compliance and avoid costly regulatory setbacks.
Beyond his individual field work, Robert has dedicated a significant part of his career to the coordination and leadership of marine turtle patrol volunteer programs, recruiting, training, and managing volunteer teams to extend monitoring coverage across St. Johns County beaches throughout the nesting season. At Coastal Conservation Group, his field expertise and operational leadership form the backbone of the organization's monitoring, surveying, and compliance oversight services — ensuring that every project benefits from rigorous, experienced, and conservation-minded field management.
Ashleigh Jansen Data Manager | Support Biologist
Ashleigh Jansen holds a Bachelor of Science in Agricultural Education and Communication with a Minor in Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, and a Master of Science in Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences from the University of Florida, completed in 2025. Her academic background bridges the sciences of aquatic ecosystem management and the communication of complex biological and environmental information — a combination that makes her an exceptionally versatile member of the Coastal Conservation Group team, equally at home in the field, in the data room, and in collaborative settings with volunteers and regulatory agencies alike.
Ashleigh serves as Coastal Conservation Group's Data Manager and Support Biologist, playing a central role in ensuring the accuracy, integrity, and organization of the environmental data that underpins the organization's monitoring programs, permit compliance reporting, and conservation planning efforts. Her rigorous approach to data quality control and management ensures that field-collected information is processed, maintained, and reported in a manner that meets the exacting standards of federal and state regulatory agencies, including the FWC, USFWS, and FDEP.
In the field, Ashleigh holds a robust portfolio of FWC permits and certifications, including Marine Turtle Monitor, certified Shorebird & Seabird Monitor, and FWC Authorized Gopher Tortoise Agent — credentials that allow her to provide direct field support across the full range of Coastal Conservation Group's monitoring and surveying services. Her multi-species certification reflects both her breadth of field competency and her commitment to the thorough, species-specific standards that effective coastal conservation demands.
Ashleigh works closely with sea turtle patrol volunteers and field teams, applying her background in agricultural education and communication to support clear, effective volunteer training and coordination. Her ability to develop efficient, well-structured plans for field task completion and data collection strengthens Coastal Conservation Group's capacity to deliver consistent, high-quality monitoring outcomes across multiple concurrent projects and nesting season programs.