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Department of Ecology News Release - November 28, 2006
06-249
OLYMPIA - Department of Ecology (Ecology) Director Jay Manning will kick off a half-day conference on wetland mitigation banking next week in Lacey.
Under a pilot program authorized by the Legislature in 2004, several public and private wetland banking projects are proposed or under way around the state. Two banks have opened in Snohomish County, one each in Stevens, Lewis, Grant, and King counties and others are under review in Skagit and Clark counties.
The conference is scheduled for Tue., Dec. 5, from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. at the Worthington Center on the campus of St. Martins College. The entrance to the center is from Pacific Avenue. Directions are available on line at http://www.stmartin.edu/about/drivinghere.htm. The event is open to the public and free of charge.
Representatives from Ecology and other organizations involved in wetland banking will provide updates on the pilot program and other initiatives. Scheduled panelists include:
A roundtable discussion, including audience questions and comments, will follow the panelists' presentations.
A wetland bank is a pre-existing wetland restoration project, specially licensed by the state Department of Ecology, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the county where the project is located. Real estate developments that must offset wetland losses have the option of purchasing acreage credits at a bank in the same watershed - subject to regulatory approval - rather than construct their own mitigation projects. The banking initiative does not change environmental review standards that protect against the loss of wetlands.
Ecology's wetland banking pilot program enables investors to establish privately owned banks to serve portions of particular watersheds. The banks typically will restore large areas and thus create better-integrated systems for habitat and water quality than smaller, scattered projects. The banks must provide ongoing maintenance and monitoring for 10 years or more to ensure their wetland restoration projects succeed. After that, bank must permanently preserve its site through a conservation easement.
This program also provides more flexibility to landowners and developers in meeting their mitigation obligations. Wetland banking is not entirely new to Washington: some local governments and state agencies have established internal wetland banks for their own projects.
For more information about Ecology's wetland banking pilot program and the conference please visit: http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/sea/wetlands/mitigation/banking/index.html.
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Contact: Larry Altose, public information officer, 425-649-7009 Gary Cooper, mitigation initiative policy lead, 360-407-7256
For more information: http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/sea/wetlands/mitigation/banking/index.html
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