Broadscapes: Our Role In The Mitigation Banking Industry

National Mitigation Banking Association Conference

          The buzz in Salt Lake City at the May 6-9, 2009, 12th annual National Mitigation Banking Conference was three words: New Mitigation Rule. A sponsor, exhibitor, and presenter, WES was excited to participate as the standards established in the guidelines reflect practices we've advocated for many years.
          The Mitigation Rule, adopted in May, 2008, put into law mitigation sequencing (avoidance, minimization, and mitigation), setting high standards for many forms of mitigation including biological, financial, and legal assurances, and making the use of mitigation banks the first preference in mitigating wetland impacts. Many questions still swirl around how to implement long-term legal and financial assurances on mitigation sites.
          One of the ways we address these concerns is through binding third-party conservation easements and non-wasting endowment accounts in which interest only, minus inflation, is used to pay for land stewardship on the site. We had an active role in ensuring the New Rule would include these types of protections, and will continue to enforce governance in all projects we implement.
          Having participated in the conference for many years, we were honored to have two of our founding partners, Greg Sutter and Craig Denisoff, present the Primer 101 half-day workshop on opening day. John McGuire, WES project planner in our Southeast Region, used multi-media complete with stunning photographs of fire in natural systems accompanied by Third Eye Blind's "Burning Man" as a musical track to capture the audience as he presented on the use of fire in natural lands management. It was very well-received.
          As an active sponsor of the conference, we also donated the featured raffle gift of a 3 day, 2 night catch-and-release Atlantic salmon fishing trip at Miramichi Black Rapids Lodge in New Brunswick, Canada.
Craig Denisoff also received the "Green Heron" award for 10 years of service to the conference.

Community Outreach - Taylor Street Elementary School

          Priscilla Mariscal, a 5th grade teacher in Sacramento, sent 25 letters and nearly 75 e-mails to different paper companies, asking for donations of paper to assist in her lesson plans. She stated "Our school can no longer afford to purchase as much paper as we are currently using for the students take home assignments."
          Her letter found its way to the desk of Mike Case, President & CEO of The Westervelt Company based in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, a former President of the American Forest and Paper Association. Case forwarded the letter on to one of the organization's subsidiaries, Westervelt Ecological Services, whose Sacramento offices are less than one mile from Taylor Street Elementary School, where Marsical teaches. Case's note stated, "See what you can do to help."
          Working with Marsical, the WES staff determined what sort of assistance she needed, and developed a "wish list" amongst her class and other teachers. Marsical's initiative, the needs of the other classrooms, and the "small world" angle of the story inspired WES staff to add their personal funds to the organizational contribution.
          "We were so impressed by Ms. Marsical's initiative and the plight of her school that we all wanted to do something for them" said Craig Denisoff, Vice President.
          "Even with the economic challenges we are facing as a country, and company, the plight of our schools are even tougher. We felt it was the right thing to do," he said.
          Marsical's class was so touched by the donation they made personalized thank-you notes for the group. WES will continue working with Taylor Street on both educational and support opportunities.

Mainstays: Associate Spotlight

Sean McGary, Southeast Region

          Venomous snakes aren't barriers for Sean McGary, senior project manager for Westervelt Ecological Services based in Auburn, Alabama. He's encountered a cadre including timber rattlesnake, cottonmouth, and copperheads in overseeing the entitlement, preservation and restoration of Big Sandy Mitigation Bank in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
          McGary specializes in mitigation bank entitlement and compliance, working closely with regional interagency review teams to monitor and design stream and wetland mitigation banks, and has worked throughout the southeast and midwest United States. His experience performing Federal threatened and endangered species surveys for flora and fauna has been useful during his frequent visits to Big Sandy, Tuscaloosa County's first full-service mitigation bank. With a portion of the bank in hardwood bottom preservation, and the remainder of the bank being restored from pine plantation, his work with jurisdictional wetland delineations, stream assessments for natural in-channel design including riparian buffer restoration, construction oversight, and NEPA documentation have contributed greatly to the efficient approval of the project.
          Originally from Ft. Myers, Florida, Sean received his degree in Environmental Science from the University of Florida. Prior experience as an ecologist and scientist includes roles in both private and public sectors in Florida, Georgia, and North Carolina.

Perennials: Functioning Projects

Van Vleck Mitigation Bank
Sacramento County, California

Bank formally approved by agencies on April 13, 2009.
Conservation easement recorded date April 23, 2009.

          Stan Van Vleck, owner and operator of 150 year-old Van Vleck Ranch, has spent years struggling to maintain a historic cattle operation in the face of modern economic pressures. Inheritance and transfer taxes, rising property taxes, and encroachment by urban development has threatened the ranch's operational outlook.
          As opposed to selling his ranch to residential developers, Van Vleck sold rights to a conservation easement to Westervelt Ecological Services (WES), allowing him to continue grazing cattle on the site while providing additional revenues for repaying taxes and distribution to other family members. We established a mitigation bank approved for selling credits for vernal pool creation and preservation, and Swainson's hawk.
          This bank was the first mitigation bank approved in northern California under the new federal Wetlands Compensatory Mitigation Rule established to increase mitigation standards, and the new interagency mitigation banking template designed to improve coordination between agencies in establishing these sites.

Big Sandy Mitigation Bank
Tuscaloosa County, Alabama

Bank formally approved by agencies on April 14, 2009.
Conservation easement recorded date April 23, 2009.

          Big Sandy Mitigation Bank, a 1,060-acre property located in South Tuscaloosa County adjacent to the Talladega National Forest, Oakmulgee District, is the result of Freshwater Land Trust and Westervelt Ecological Services (WES) working in conjunction to place property into a conservation easement, offering full-service mitigation credits for environmental impacts to streams and wetlands. The mitigation bank will ultimately protect a 4-mile stretch on both sides of Big Sandy and South Sandy Creeks.

Read the story Tuscaloosa News wrote about Big Sandy Mitigation Bank after attending the June 19, 2009, official opening reception.

Horizons: Upcoming Projects

Chickasawhay Conservation Bank
Greene County, Mississippi

          Chickasawhay Gopher Tortoise Conservation Bank (CGTCB) has been developed to restore and maintain longleaf pine forest in perpetuity on its 1,220 acres in Greene County, Mississippi. The bank will integrate roughly 250 tortoises from impacted sites in Alabama west of the Tombigbee River, and east of the Hattiesburg, Mississippi, area.
          Despite declining habitat, the bank remains home to a few native tortoises. With limited chance of reproduction – tortoise reach sexual maturity between ages 10 and 15 – the colony will disappear without additional population and improved habitat.
          "Fortunately, improvements will be recognized rapidly with the introduction of prescribed burning," said John McGuire, project manager for CGTCB.
          McGuire said non-native invasive species such as cogon grass and red-imported fire ants will also be controlled to assist in the recovery of the gopher tortoise. Additionally, resident and transient tortoise will be tested for the presence of Upper Respiratory Tract Disease (URTD), a fatal infection first discovered in 1991 amongst populations in Sanibel Island, Florida, to prevent its spread to the bank.
          "Our goal is to restore and maintain a longleaf pine habitat that will allow the gopher tortoise to flourish, by using natural controls like fire and the reintroduction of native plants and additional tortoise population. By ensuring no net-loss of tortoises in the relocation of currently reproductive animals, we are certain we can achieve it," he said.

Pensacola Bay Mitigation Bank
Escambia County, Florida

          Encompassing several thousand acres, Garcon Point is a peninsula jutting into the north end of Pensacola Bay, Florida. Often called the "Serengeti of Carnivorous Plants," this coastal bog has experienced serious decline over the past few decades from where it was once purportedly the largest coastal bog in Florida.
          Restoration of the Garcon Point Ecosystem (GPE) provides both ecological and socio-economic services to the surrounding region. GPE serves as buffer habitat against hurricanes, provides filtration to water straining into Pensacola Bay and local estuaries, and is home to at least 13 threatened and endangered species including the Panhandle lily, four threatened orchid varieties, white-topped pitcher plant and the recently listed reticulated (flatwoods) salamander.
          Restored coastal bogs have incredibly high species richness, contributing significant biodiversity to Florida's coastal regions, which stimulates interest from eco-tourists and contributes to the local economy. This project intends to create an infusion of capital to various local entities, restore significant acres of the GPE in the short-term, and also provide benefits to long-term ecological maintenance.

          Look for the next issue of "Landscapes" in October, 2009. Please feel free to forward this link to colleagues who might be interested in learning more about Westervelt Ecological Services.