Economic Return:
Mitigation banking provides income through the sale of credits earned by creating conservation and restoration outcomes on private land with private investment. Credits are used to offset unavoidable impacts from projects that choose to outsource their compliance obligations under the Clean Water Act.
Background Information:
Wetland and stream mitigation banking is an innovative system for addressing the impacts to wetlands and streams from various human activities, such as road construction and land development. Under the regulations of the Clean Water Act, landowners are required to avoid and minimize any impacts to wetlands and streams. When there are unavoidable impacts, however, they must mitigate the remaining impacts either on-site, or by purchasing credits from a mitigation bank in the same watershed.
The benefits of the mitigation banking approach are many, including:
For the ecosystem:
- Restoration of larger, more functional and long-lasting wetland and stream systems
- Management and ownership by wetland and stream experts
- Net gain in wetland acres
- Permanent protection in the form of a restriction on the deed to the land which ensures that the bank will stay in service.
For the buyer of credits:
- Efficiencies of scale (lower cost per credit)
- Elimination of long-term management, maintenance and monitoring liability.
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