The Chickasawhay Conservation Bank is a viable compensatory mitigation option for impacts to gopher tortoises (Gopherus polyphemus) within the mitigation service area that has been authorized by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. This 1,223-acre site in Greene County, Mississippi, is located between Hattiesburg, Mississippi, and Mobile, Alabama. Currently, there are no approved conservation banks near either the Mobile or Hattiesburg metropolitan regions.
This project provides mitigation value to the growing economies of these areas. As a keystone species, gopher tortoises provide valuable habitat for many other species including those that have become rare, such as the eastern indigo snake and gopher frog. The Chickasawhay Conservation Bank provides gopher tortoise conservation credits and gopher tortoise habitat preservation credits for sale for compensatory mitigation within the approved service areas in Mississippi and Alabama.
The project provides ecological value through restoration of longleaf pine habitat that has become exceedingly rare across the Southeast.
Please contact Michelle O'Neal at (205) 562-5213 or email moneal@westervelt.com for more information or pricing information.
