Primary Payments for Ecosystem Services Markets

Wetland and Stream Mitigation Banking

EIP generates wetland and/or stream mitigation credits by restoring, enhancing, and permanently protecting aquatic resources on the properties it acquires.  EIP “banks” and then sells these credits to developers who must offset unavoidable ecological impacts and satisfy compliance obligations under Section 404 of the federal Clean Water Act.

The Clean Water Act mandates that any entity (public or private) proposing  unavoidable impacts to jurisdictional wetlands must first obtain a permit from the US Army Corps of Engineers. Before issuing the permit, the Corps determines whether the impact is avoidable, and whether it has been minimized.  When impacts are unavoidable and have been minimized to the greatest extent possible, the developer is required to compensate (or mitigate) for this damage.  Under federal law, the purchase of mitigation credits from an approved mitigation bank is now the preferred method for providing compensatory mitigation.  

Conservation (Endangered Species) Banking

EIP generates endangered species mitigation credits by restoring, enhancing and permanently protecting threatened and/or endangered species habitats on the land it acquires.  Much like the Clean Water Act, the federal Endangered Species At requires unavoidable impacts (known as “incidental take”) to endangered species and their critical habitat be offset or mitigated. Mitigation credits are used to offset unavoidable impacts from projects that choose to outsource their compliance obligations under the federal Endangered Species Act, or similar state endangered species regulatory programs.

For more information on wetland, stream, and conservation banking, please visit our Market Resources page.

The Benefits of Mitigation Banking

For the buyer of credits…

• Cost reductions over “do it yourself” compliance (due to the economies of scale a large mitigation bank generates and passes on to credit buyers), together with cost certainty
• Elimination of all performance liability for the compliance, including long-term management, maintenance, and monitoring of the ecological restoration
• Decreased permit wait time (purchase of bank credits immediately satisfies the mitigation requirements of the permit)

For the ecosystem…

• Restoration of larger, more functional and longer-lasting ecological systems
• No temporal loss of ecological function because restoration is completed before the impacts occur
• Management and ownership by wetland, stream and endangered species experts
• ‘‘No Net Loss’’ in wetland acres at minimum, often with a gain of wetland acres
• Permanent protection in the form of a conservation easement, enforced by a qualified third party