What are the benefits of Mitigation Banking…

…for the Environment?
Conservationists and ecologists have long recognized that the traditional method of compensatory wetland mitigation – resulting in the creation of numerous small, scattered man-made wetlands – have not adequately replaced the wetlands lost to development over the past 25 years. In fact, several studies have found that less than 30% of these traditionally mitigated wetlands remain viable after five years, with most ending up as abandoned, dehydrated wetlands filled with trash and exotic plant species. Mitigation Banking – through the consolidation of numerous small, piecemeal restoration projects into one large, viable ecosystem-oriented restoration project – is clearly the superior alternative. Mitigation Banks face stricter permitting requirements and require greater financial assurances, higher levels of scientific and technical planning and more stringent performance criteria than traditional wetland mitigation projects.

…for the Developer?
Mitigation Banking offers 7 major advantages to the developer:

  1. It enables the developer to legally transfer all its mitigation obligations to the Mitigation Banker thus allowing the developer to focus entirely on the work that it does best: developing land.
  2. It removes the necessity to mitigate on-site, allowing the developer to utilize more of the property.
  3. Mitigation Banking significantly reduces permitting timeframes, from 9 – 18 months for traditional mitigation to 2 – 4 months for Mitigation Banking.
  4. Developers across Florida have saved between $20,000 and $40,000 or more per acre by mitigating with bank credits instead of traditional on-site or off-site mitigation.
  5. Mitigation Banking allows for the complete transfer of all future maintenance and monitoring obligations from the developer to the Mitigation Banker.
  6. Utilizing the Mitigation Banking alternative removes all of the uncertainty over the project’s future mitigation needs.
  7. In addition to maximizing their financial return, developers are also participating in a clearly superior method of enhancing environmental quality in the community in which it is doing business.

Dramatically reducing permitting time, significantly lowering project costs, eliminating all future mitigation obligations and enhancing quality of life in the local community – Mitigation Banking is the smart choice for wetland mitigation.

…for the Public Good?
The United States has decided that our wetlands are an important vestige of our nation’s natural heritage and, therefore, must be protected. Unfortunately, the increasing burden of this responsibility has fallen on the shoulders of local, state and federal agencies and programs that are experiencing budget and staff reductions. Mitigation Banking shifts the costliest portion of this burden to the private sector, thus freeing up agency resources to focus on their primary missions. With stricter and more comprehensive accountability requirements, Mitigation Bankers must produce higher environmental returns and are obligated to maintain the highest levels of ecological stability in perpetuity. Also, because most Mitigation Banks are on privately owned property they remain on the tax rolls, providing a public good while continuing to generate tax revenue. Finally, most Mitigation Banks supplement local, state and federal conservation initiatives without the use of taxpayer dollars.