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Department of Ecology News Release - March 12, 2004
04-052
OLYMPIA – Efforts to create and preserve wetlands in Washington got a boost from the state legislature as part of the newly adopted supplemental budget.
With support from developers and environmentalists, lawmakers provided $120,000 so the Department of Ecology (Ecology) can revive a proposed "wetland banking" regulation that was shelved two years ago due to budget cuts. The 2004 supplement budget directs Ecology to coordinate a pilot project on wetland mitigation banking and to develop and implement a wetland banking rule.
Wetland banking provides a way for local governments, developers or others to generate "credits" by restoring, creating, enhancing or preserving wetlands before they cause damage to an existing wetland. The credits can then be used by that party or sold to someone else to compensate for land-use activities that damage or eliminate wetlands.
In 2002, Ecology had launched formal rule-making on a wetland banking rule to guide wetland banking and certification by local jurisdictions, such as city and county public-works departments, transportation and utility departments, and by businesses and private entrepreneurs. The rule received widespread support, but budget cuts forced the agency to withdraw the rule before it was adopted.
"Here was something that was good for business and good for the environment, and we really hated pulling the plug," said Gordon White, who manages Ecology's shorelands program.
"But it's hard to put a good idea back in the box," White added. "If anything, the support for wetland banking has grown over the past two years."
Ecology will create an advisory committee representing other state agencies, the Army Corps of Engineers, businesses, mitigation-banking organizations and environmentalists to provide guidance on the pilot project and the new wetland-banking rule.
White said that three or four wetland banks will be developed and evaluated as part of the pilot project. Information gleaned from the project will be used in developing the final rule, which would be adopted only if funding is provided in the 2005-07 state budget.
"We have clear direction that the legislature wants to move ahead with a wetland-banking pilot project," White said. "Once we can demonstrate the value of this approach, we will have a fuller discussion about the funding needs for adopting and implementing the banking rule."
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Media contact: Sheryl Hutchison, Communication Director, 360-407-7004
Wetlands Web: http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/sea/wetlan.html
Copyright © Washington State Department of Ecology. See http://www.ecy.wa.gov/copyright.html.
