Might want to just get started, nobody else is going to help unless they see actual progress being made.
I've been wanting to make a Jurassic Park-ish map for a while, I might do it sooner or later to coincide with this topic or whatever.
Maps are important!
In my noob days, I spent about 3 months searching for a Jurassic park map that I never found.
I will start my models, but they will be first modeled in SketchUP then converted to Milkshape or blender.
The reason for this is SketchUp is REALLY easy to use and I know how to use it.