Wetlands - Wetlands Mitigation and Restoration

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Buy Books about Wetlands Mitigation

The concept of mitigation banking arouse because of the need of governmental agencies and corporations to provide for long term construction needs involving wetlands. Mitigation banking is defined as wetland restoration, creation, enhancement and, in exceptional circumstances, preservation, undertaken expressly for the purpose of mitigating unavoidable losses in advance of development actions, when compensatory mitigation cannot be achieved at the development site or is not as environmentally beneficial. It typically involves the consolidation of fragmented wetland mitigation projects into one large contiguous site. Units of restored, created, enhanced or preserved wetlands are expressed as "credits" which may be subsequently withdrawn to offset "debits" incurred at a project development site. When all credits have been withdrawn, the bank is closed and is donated to a public entity and protected in perpetuity. By consolidating compensation requirements, banks can more effectively replace lost wetland functions within a watershed, as well as provide economies of scale relating to the planning, implementation, monitoring and management of mitigation projects. To learn more about mitigation banking visit one or more of the links given below. The concept is simple, but its implementation can be very complex. A number of businesses have been created whose sole purpose is the construction and management of wetlands mitigation banks.

Mitigation Banking. Water Sheds. Water Sheds has an excellent introduction to the principles of mitigation banking. You'll also find at this same site a detailed analysis of successful strategies of mitigation banking and some of the pitfalls to be avoided.

The Concept of Wetland Mitigation Banking. U.S. Wetland Services. A short introduction to the concept of mitigation banking.

Wetlands Mitigation Banking. Environmental Protection Agency. A short introduction to mitigation banking.

National Wetlands Mitigation Banking Study. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. A list of a series of publications on mitigation banking available from the Corps of Engineers.

Joint Testimony on Mitigation Banking Before the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. Environmental Protection Agency. This document provides a great deal of information on the history of current wetlands mitigation banking.