Nation's First Agricultural Wetland Mitigation Bank to Be Established In Missouri

WASHINGTON, Jan. 7 -- The nation's first agricultural wetland mitigation bank for farming activities is being established on a 73-acre site in southeast Missouri.

The mitigation bank is a pilot project of the American Farmland Trust's (AFT) Agricultural Conservation Innovation Center with assistance from USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service.

The purpose of wetland mitigation banks is to consolidate wetland restoration projects to serve as compensation for several small, scattered wetland losses.

Through the bank, producers who want to convert farmed wetlands on their property to non-wetlands have the opportunity to purchase wetland credits. These producers do not mitigate on their own farms for the wetland conversion, but on land that is part of the mitigation bank. Each acre of restored wetland is equal to one wetland credit.

"This is the result of a partnership effort to find innovative solutions to pressing agricultural issues, including wetlands," said NRCS Chief Pearlie S. Reed.

NRCS will provide technical assistance to restore the wetlands that make up the mitigation bank and will hold the permanent conservation easement to ensure that the property is protected in perpetuity.

In the Missouri pilot project, the landowner of the mitigation banking site has agreed to restore on his farm a 73-acre wetland complex that is currently cropland. Funds for the restoration--including a 7-acre berm enclosing the wetland--will come from money paid into the mitigation bank by producers who purchase wetlands credits to satisfy Federal and state permit requirements.

The landowner at the mitigation site will be responsible for long-term management, maintenance, and taxes on the property.

Other members of the Missouri interagency committee that oversees potential wetland impacts related to the pilot mitigation bank include the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Missouri Department of Natural Resources, and Missouri Department of Conservation.

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