Learn More About Wetland Mitigation Banking

How does wetland mitigation banking fit within the bigger picture of watershed planning?

Ideally, mitigation banking can best be implemented in the context of watershed planning. Mitigation banks can be designed and located to address specific watershed needs. This could mean enhancing or restoring wetland functions that are in short supply or are of critical importance in a given watershed or drainage basin.

Good ecological assessment of watersheds, combined with transportation, infrastructure, and development planning, will allow mitigation banks to be designed and located in areas where they serve the greatest ecological good. Ecology and the Corps of Engineers developed guidance on how to select a mitigation site using a watershed-based approach.

Ecological benefits include:

Ensures greater likelihood of success, since banks must be up and running before a wetland can be affected.
Potential to consolidate piecemeal mitigation projects into one contiguous, unified ecosystem. Such consolidation encourages greater diversity of habitat and wetland functions and creates more sustainable systems.
Reduces temporal losses since mitigation banking projects must be implemented in advance of impacts. Temporal losses occur when impacts to existing wetlands are compensated for with soon-to-be or newly constructed wetlands.
Provides more flexibility for mitigating unavoidable damage by allowing mitigation to occur off-site when a greater ecological benefit results.
Provides a planning tool for meeting wetland needs within a watershed, basin, or particular landscape, versus being tied to piecemeal mitigation.
Uses economic incentive to increase compliance. The bank sponsor shoulders the burden of demonstrating - up front - that the mitigation effort is successful. Monitoring and maintenance are also required of the sponsor to ensure continued success after construction is completed.

Economic benefits include:

Increases efficiencies in permitting. There will be opportunities to certify banks through local, state and federal permitting activities concurrently. Those purchasing credits from a bank experience a more streamlined permit process, since proposed compensatory mitigation is already constructed and functioning.
Reduces enforcement burden on regulatory agencies. Each mitigation bank applicant must demonstrate that performance standards are met prior to the releasing of credits.