Project Summary

Project Background

In September 2011, EIP II completed a 3,860 acre purchase of mixed pine and hardwood timberland in southwest Louisiana north of Lake Charles.  Historically dominated by the longleaf pine savanna native to the Gulf Coastal Plain, but converted to industrial loblolly pine plantation by previous owners, the property presents a unique restoration opportunity and is an ideal wetland mitigation bank site.  The property has long been a top priority acquisition for The Nature Conservancy and mitigation bankers due to:

• The opportunity to capitalize on the robust demand for wetland mitigation credits in the expanding Lake Charles metro region, projected to be the fastest-growing region in Louisiana over the next two years
• The property's significance as one of the largest remaining unprotected and restorable wet pine savanna habitats in southwest Louisiana

The property is currently an industrial loblolly pine plantation, with the site's hydrologic regime disturbed by bedded windrows.  

Working with The Nature Conservancy, a local mitigation banking expert, and the US Army Corps of Engineers, EIP will capitalize on the robust and un-serviced demand for wetland mitigation credits (needed to offset unavoidable impacts to wetlands as required by the federal Clean Water Act) to finance conservation and restoration of the property and generate an attractive financial return for EIP II's investors.  EIP will generate credits by entitling a wetland mitigation bank (the Calcasieu Mitigation Bank) on over 1,500 acres of the property's former wetlands, with credits reservable now and available for sale in 2012.

Once the restoration work is complete, EIP will sell the property to a private conservation buyer subject to a permanent conservation easement (also known as a conservation servitude in Louisiana). Revenues generated by the sale of mitigation credits will allow EIP to establish a long-term monitoring and maintenance fund for the property to insure the quality and viability of its restored ecosystems in perpetuity.

Project Location

The tract is located 20 miles northwest of Lake Charles, Louisiana (in Allen and Jefferson Davis Parishes) and the service area for the Calcasieu Mitigation Bank's credits encompasses Calcasieu, Beauregard, Allen, and Jefferson Davis Parishes.

View Calcasieu Mitigation Bank in a larger map

Primary Component of Value

Wetland Mitigation Banking
EIP is currently establishing a wetland mitigation bank (the Calcasieu Mitigation Bank) by restoring and protecting approximately 1,500 acres of the site.  EIP will accomplish the restoration through the following means:

• Remove the monoculture pine plantation by timber harvest
• Re-grade the artificial bedding and mounded windrows to restore wetland hydrology
• Re-establish pine savanna ecological plant communities by planting longleaf pine and implementing a prescribed fire regime

EIP is marketing the credits it will generate through the mitigation bank on the open market to entities who need to offset unavoidable impacts to wetlands under the federal Clean Water Act. EIP will convey a perpetual conservation easement over the mitigation area to The Nature Conservancy.

The site will be restored by removing non-native timber, planting thousands of native longleaf pine seedlings, and using an ongoing regime of prescribed fire to maintain the native rich herbaceous groundcover that characterizes the pine savanna. 

Secondary Component of Value

Timber Management
As part of the restoration plan for the mitigation bank areas, and on non-restorable portions of the property adjacent to the mitigation bank areas, EIP will sustainably harvest merchantable timber.

What The Site Will Be

A healthy, restored longleaf pine savanna wetland: while it once dominated the Gulf Coastal Plain, the longleaf pine savanna ecosystem now covers less than 5% of its original range, making it one of the country's rarest and most threatened ecosystems.  Restoration efforts like the one EIP is undertaking at the Calcasieu Mitigation Bank help ensure this critical habitat can rebound and continue to harbor a rich assemblage of critical species, including the federally endangered American chaffseed (Schwalbea americana), recently discovered on The Nature Conservancy's restoration project adjacent to the Calcasieu Mitigation Bank. 

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