WIN-WIN-WIN -- THE BENEFITS OF WETLAND MITIGATION BANKING

Win-Win-Win for the Developers, the Environment and the Regulators

Benefits of Wetland Mitigation Banking to the Development Community:

Reduce the time needed to review and process your permit application.

By specifying your intent to mitigate your wetland impacts at a mitigation bank, the time needed to obtain approval of your permit application can be significantly shortened. There will be no need to develop a mitigation plan, or to negotiate with the regulatory authorities the details of your mitigation plan. Regulators usually require that you commence mitigation activities at the very earliest time in your construction schedule. When you use wetland mitigation credits to satisfy your mitigation requirements, the mitigation is already in place. Time will be saved in regulatory review of the mitigation proposal, in the emplacement of your mitigation, and you will be able to begin your project sooner.

Eliminates need to dedicate or acquire land and water for mitigation purposes.

The COE has experienced a disappointingly high failure rate of individual mitigation sites to meet statutory standards. More than half the constructed individual mitigation sites fail to meet statutory standards. The two predominant causes are:

1. Lack of an adequate dependable water supply;
2. Failure to adequately monitor/maintain the site.

To address these critical factors, our bank has committed to the project's use the most senior water right on the Front Range in an amount that provides well in excess of our expected consumptive use.

When operated throughout the entire growing season, to achieve the permanently or semi-permanently flooded conditions required by the desirable native plant species, wetlands in this area are expected to consume a minimum of 2.5 acre-feet of water per acre of wetland. Prices for CBT water, which has a historically high degree of delivery assurance, but cannot currently be used for wetlands, have been as high as $20,000 per acre-foot and currently are in the range of $15,000 per acre-foot. Metro-Denver wastewater has recently sold for $12,000 per acre-foot. If a change in type of use and/or place of use is involved, a Water Court change decree must be obtained, which will add significant additional cost.

There is no current requirement to mitigate for buffer areas, although proposed new regulations may require mitigation of buffer areas, as well as wetland areas. To be ecologically responsible, our bank includes a buffer area nearly 60% as large as the wetland area. Land prices are escalating, depending on the location of your development. As a reference, Boulder County recently paid $27,000 per acre for agricultural land in the 100-year flood plain. Development land is much more costly. Devotion of a portion of the development site, of acquisition of additional land, to devote to an individual mitigation project, either on or off-site, may substantially compromise project profitability.

Finally, the soils at the chosen mitigation site may not be suitable to achieve the desired hydrology, without importing hydric soils. If this step is required, another element of cost will be added.

Eliminates design, construction, monitoring, and maintenance responsibilities.

A successful wetland mitigation project requires experienced technical professionals, from design through final acceptance by regulatory authorities, whose fees can be, and usually are, substantial. Design of the mitigation plan is typically contracted through specialized engineers and wetland biologists. Construction may require a contractor experienced in environmental restoration.

Monitoring and maintenance, usually required by the permit for a minimum of three to five years, also require professional expertise and add substantial cost and uncertainty. In the event permitted specifications are not met, as demonstrated by required periodic monitoring reports and possible inspections by regulatory personnel, costly and time consuming remediation may be required. We provide intense monitoring and maintenance for the first several years and completely relieve clients of all monitoring and maintenance responsibilities.

Cost effectiveness

Nationwide, the costs associated with creating a wetland mitigation site (not including the costs of land, water, monitoring and maintenance) average about $50,000 per acre. Land at a development site is usually very costly, and utilizing the land to the greatest extent possible can optimize the return on the site. Use of the Bank provides a fixed, known cost that can be used to develop an accurate assessment of a project’s bottom-line. Purchasing wetland mitigation credits from a bank is most often the cost-effective alternative.

Elimination of all risk and liability.

If the regulatory agencies find that a developer’s mitigation project fails to meet jurisdictional requirements, the developer may be required to correct any deficiencies, regardless of cost and time involved, and/or be responsible for penalties. Immediately upon purchase of credits from a wetland mitigation bank, the entire responsibility and liability associated with mitigation performance is borne by the Bank and the developer has no further risk or liability.

Benefits of Wetland Mitigation Banking to the Watershed and the Environment:

Studies performed by the National Academy of Sciences and the General Accounting Office and published in 2001 have documented the dramatic difference in success between wetland mitigation banks and attempts at individual mitigation. After only ten years of experience with wetland mitigation banks, it is clear that the high degree of failure in attempted individual mitigation sites makes wetland mitigation banks the preferred choice in most instances. This experience is consistent with that in the Colorado Front Range, as noted above. Commencing in March 2001, the Federal Highway Administration requires that all highway projects using Federal funds utilize wetland mitigation banks, to the extent they are available in the watershed being impacted.

Many projects involve wetland impacts that are relatively small. To mitigate individually for such impacts often results in a “bathtub” mitigation project that provides little, if any, environmental benefit. Wildlife cannot thrive, if it can survive at all, in a small site surrounded by pavement, buildings and/or roadways.

A significant concern of the regulators, even in cases where impacted wetlands will ultimately be restored or replaced, is the temporal loss of wetland functions. In most cases, even when mitigation efforts are commenced at the earliest stage of project construction, there is some temporal loss. In cases were the mitigation will take the form of restoration at the completion of project construction, the temporal loss may be several months, or even years. When the mitigation is accomplished through the purchase of wetland mitigation credits from a bank, the mitigation is in place before the project commences and temporal loss is completely eliminated.

Benefits of Wetland Mitigation Banking to the Regulators:

In the permitting process, regulatory workload is substantially reduced when mitigation is accomplished through the purchase of credits from a wetland mitigation bank. The need to review and approve individual mitigation plans is eliminated. This process can often be very time consuming, because of the iterative nature of the process.

Similarly, regulatory workload is substantially reduced in the monitoring (and, if need be, enforcement) phase of the mitigation process. There is no need to review numerous monitoring reports from the individual mitigation projects, not to conduct numerous on-site compliance reviews. The compliance and monitoring functions for many smaller projects are consolidated into a single wetland mitigation bank, so that there is only one report to review and one on-site compliance review.

All photos were taken at the Middle South Platte River Mitigation Bank. All text and photos, except where noted, © 2008 Middle South Platte River Mitigation Bank.