Why create your own?
By Jerry Kintz, P.E., Westbrook Associated Engineers, Inc.

Wetland mitigation is the replacement of wetland functions through the creation or restoration of wetlands. The goal of wetland mitigation is to replace wetland functions, which provide public benefits, such as flood storage, water quality protection, fish and wildlife habitat, and groundwater recharge.

During the design and construction of roadways and bridges there is sometimes a need to disturb wetlands as part of the project. Have you ever been required to mitigate wetlands due to roadway or bridge construction? Whenever you are involved in a transportation project, chances are an existing wetland will be disturbed during construction and must be mitigated. Wetlands can be disturbed in many ways. Here are a few examples:
     - Roadway reconstruction - designing a wider roadway section may impact adjacent
     wetlands, which may be nothing more than an existing ditch with poor drainage.
     - Bridge replacements - new substructure units are normally located in wetland areas.
     Additionally, the placement of riprap to protect the substructures impacts the wetland.
     - Culvert replacement - the area around existing culverts is sometimes classified as a
     wetland. During the replacement operations the wetland is disturbed.

By law, any wetlands destroyed as the result of a construction operation must be mitigated. Under the Clean Water Act the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WisDNR) require that the disturbed wetland is mitigated either on site or debited to a wetland bank. Mitigating wetland on site is a lengthy process that involves excessive time, money and patience. The alternative is to prepare ahead of time, eliminate extra costs, and create your own wetland mitigation bank.

Wetland mitigation banking involves a formal administrative structure in which new wetland areas, or "banks", are established in advance of authorized impacts to similar resources. Wetlands established in a mitigation bank provide "credits" which can be sold to permit applicants, or used by the bank sponsor to compensate for adverse wetland impacts from permitted activities such as transportation project construction. A bank sponsor is the entity financially responsible for establishing a bank site in accordance with an approved Compensation Site Plan (a comprehensive document prepared by a project proponent or bank sponsor that provides a thorough description of a proposed compensation project) administration of the accounting of debits and credits, providing required monitoring and status reports to the Mitigation Banking Review Team (MBRT), and assuring long term maintenance and protection of the site.

Mitigation Banking Review Team is comprised of Representatives of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and other state, tribal, or local agencies, as appropriate to a particular site.

Benefits of Mitigation Banking
     - Dependability: Successful mitigation can be ensured since the wetlands can be  

     established in advance of future project impacts.
     - Banking can provide more cost-effective mitigation and reduce permitting uncertainty and  

     delays for qualified projects. This is especially helpful when the project is associated with a 

     comprehensive planning effort.
     - Mitigation banking benefits the state's wetland resources. It provides a new wetland habitat

     in advance of wetland losses.
     - Opposed to multiple projects with numerous small, isolated or fragmented wetland areas,

     creating a single bank (wetland environment) may have greater ecological benefit.
     - A mitigation bank can bring scientific and planning expertise and financial resources

     together, thereby increasing the likelihood of success in a way not practical for individual

     mitigation efforts.

Getting Started
What to look for when buying land to start your wetland mitigation bank
Due to a great degree of variability in landscape settings, surrounding land-uses, and level of impact, there are not established definitive site selection criteria's for good wetland compensation sites. However, there are a few general tips for buying suitable land for a wetland mitigation bank.
P When buying land for a wetland bank you should look for an area that was historically a wetland and was converted to a farm field through the use of drain tile. This land is easily restored back to wetland and the MBRT will credit you with one acre of wetland for each acre restored. This is the best possible scenario.
P Wetland banks can also be created in areas that were not wetlands in the past. However, only wetland creation that is adjacent to existing wetland and/or fits into the natural landscape will be allowed for compensation purposes. These areas will require rainwater runoff so look for low valley areas, no ridge fields. The rain runoff will be gathered in shallow ponds and scraps so that wetlands can be created. Once you hold up the water, the wetland plants will soon come. Due to the greater difficulty in establishing non-historic wetlands, the poorer track record of non-historic wetland creation, and the energy needed in the development of functional wetlands, you typically receive ½ acre credit for each acre created.

Credit Calculation by the MBRT
At the end of the monitoring period, the MBRT will visit each proposed bank site and will determine the expected credits for the wetland mitigation bank. The MBRT will recommend the final creditable acreage for each site.

If the WisDNR approves the bank, typically they lead the MBRT, the appropriate compensation will be determined. The permitting agency will determine the compensation ratio (how much of the bank will be used to compensate for wetlands taken in wetland impact) that is appropriate considering the specifics of the wetland loss (the type of wetland impact such as quality) due to construction and the new bank site (the wetland type and quality). You usually cannot expect to get 100 percent credit from the entire wetland bank created.

So, if you buy 20 acres you may only get 5 to 15 acres credited to the bank. This will depend on the quality of the completed wetland and the site you have chosen. The standard compensation ratio in most cases is 1.5 acres of compensation (your wetland bank) for each acre of wetland impacted, a ratio of 1.5:1. Under certain circumstances the compensation ratio may be set 1:1.
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The MBRT will make several trips to the site to see how the wetland area improves over the first several years after construction because the wetland area will increase in value over time.

Once you have a wetland mitigation bank established, you can debit to it each time you need to mitigate wetland. For example, you have a newly created wetland bank of 120 acres. The WisDNR has given you a credit of 97.75 acres of wetland for your bank. You construct a project that impacts 15 acres of wetland. With an impact to debit ratio of 1:1 your new bank would have 82.75 acres left for future projects. Once you use the entire 97.75 acres the bank is closed and must remain a wetland. At that time you can create a new wetland bank at a new location or add onto the existing wetland bank if the adjacent land can be converted easily and you have a willing seller.

Most counties can construct the wetland bank with their own forces at a time when other work is low. It takes multiple agency coordination to create wetlands, but once it is done the rest of your projects will move quickly, efficiently and be more cost-effective.

Mitigation Banking Review Team Process
The following contains, in general terms, the process used by the MBRT:

1. A prospective bank sponsor should first submit a bank proposal to the lead agency to initiate formal agency involvement and review;

2. The lead agency will notify the members of the MBRT that a bank proposal has been received by sending them a copy of it. A date for an inter-agency site meeting will be set;

3. Based on the interagency meeting and a site visit, the lead agency will provide a written response to the prospective bank sponsor indicating likelihood for compliance with these guidelines and other state and federal rules and regulations;

4. Based on comments and suggestions of the MBRT, the prospective bank sponsor will prepare a draft bank document;

5. The DNR will provide notice to the public that a draft Bank Document has been submitted and will make copies of any of the plans and other documentation available for review by any person who requests such;

6. The bank sponsor will complete the Bank Document and Compensation Site Plan(s) and submit them for review by the MBRT and approval by the lead agency. The MBRT will advise the bank sponsor as to the initial credit estimate for the bank site;

7. The lead agency will confirm in writing acceptance of the Bank Document;

8. DNR will provide public notice that the Bank Document has been signed and the bank will be added to the statewide registry of approved banks. Credit amounts for the bank will be set pursuant to the process described in Chapter NR350, Wisconsin Administrative Code, and section 9.K.
 

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