Wetland Mitigation

The NCRCPD's regional mitigation bank currently comprises 8 mitigation sites. The regional mitigation bank's service area extends across two U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (COE) Districts (headquartered in Buffalo, NY and Huntington, WV), four Ohio counties (Sandusky, Erie, Lorain and Medina) and eleven United States Geological Survey (USGS) watersheds (Hydrologic Units #04100008, #04100009, #04100010, #04100011, #04100012, #04110001, #04110002, #05040001, #05040003, #05040004, and #05040005). New mitigation banking sites are being developed in Wood, Erie and Lorain counties.

The COE and the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (OEPA) use the Clean Water Act permit review process to regulate activities that affect existing wetlands and streams. To be granted a Section 404 permit from the COE under the Clean Water Act, the applicant must show that it has avoided wetland impacts, where practicable, minimized impacts to wetlands, and compensated for unavoidable impacts to wetlands. The February 1990 Memorandum of Agreement between the COE and the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) specifies that "Appropriate and practicable compensatory mitigation is required for unavoidable adverse impacts which remain after all appropriate and practicable minimization has been required" (USEPA & COE, 1990). Compensatory mitigation through mitigation banking has grown since the publication of the Federal Guidance, which states that "requirements for compensatory mitigation may be satisfied through the use of mitigation banks when either on-site compensation is not practicable or use of the mitigation bank is environmentally preferable to on-site compensation" (COE et al, 1995). The Federal Guidance was issued by COE, USEPA, National Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), and National Marine Fisheries Service to encourage appropriate mitigation banking as compensatory mitigation for wetland impacts.

Section 404 permits are conditioned on receiving Section 401 water quality certification from the OEPA, which is also conditioned on compensatory mitigation. Under its wetland water quality standards, the OEPA requires that impacted wetlands be assessed and categorized. The amount, type, and location of any compensatory mitigation is derived from the category (category 1, 2 or 3) assigned to the wetlands being impacted. The OEPA requires that compensatory mitigation occur in the watershed where the impacts to wetlands or the lowering of water quality occurs, or the adjacent watershed, if there is a sound ecological reason to locate the mitigation outside of the watershed where the impacts occur. The OEPA endorses the use of mitigation banks, if the mitigation bank's designated service area meets the OEPA's location rules (OEPA, 1998). Impacts to isolated wetlands regulated under Chapter 6111, Ohio Revised Code, can also be mitigated at an approved mitigation bank site.

Each mitigation site in the regional mitigation bank has the potential to restore (or enhance) diverse habitat complexes. Each restored wetland will be integrated into a metropolitan park district in Erie, Sandusky, Lorain or Medina County, providing educational and recreational environmental benefits to the community.