Ag-only wetland mitigation bank ready to enroll credits
By Janet Kubat Willette
jkubat@agrinews.com
Date Modified: 02/09/2012 3:44 PM
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MANKATO, Minn. — Minnesota's fledgling ag wetland mitigation bank is operational and waiting for farmers to begin depositing and buying wetland credits.
The ag wetland mitigation bank is a division of the state's 20-year-old wetland bank that has primarily been used to offset wetland losses due to development and transportation projects.
The ag wetland mitigation bank is for farmers who either want to do a project that will impact a wetland or who want to develop a wetland without participating in a publicly funded conservation program. The credits deposited would only be available to agricultural landowners for replacing farmed or degraded wetlands under the jurisdiction of the federal farm bill or the Minnesota Wetland Conservation Act.
A fair amount of interest exists in the new wetland bank, judging by the attendance and discussion at the Jan. 19 meeting in Mankato. More than 65 people crammed a room for the meeting organized by the Minnesota Association of Resource Conservation and Development Councils.
The Board of Water and Soil Resources is getting the word out about the ag-only mitigation credits, said Les Lemm, BWSR Wetland Conservation Act coordinator.
Completing the enrollment process could take several years, depending on the site.
The first step is to develop a plan in conjunction with the local unit of government in charge of wetland banking. Typically, this is the county or the Soil and Water Conservation District. The planning and approval process could take up to two years, Lemm said.
The reason for the extended time frame is BWSR wants to make sure the site is going to be a fit for a wetland restoration before proceeding. A site inspection will occur and potential concerns will be identified. An isolated site, a site with invasive species issues or a site that requires extensive diking may not be a good fit, Lemm said.
Landowners who have property coming out the Conservation Reserve Program may want to consider the ag wetland mitigation bank, he said, as the cost of establishing credits can be less there than on other sites.
Even if the CRP contract expires in two or three years, now is the time to start the process to determine if the site is suitable for banking, Lemm said. It's also possible to buy out the time remaining on the contract and enroll it in the bank.
Once the site has been thoroughly evaluated and deemed a good fit for the wetland bank, construction occurs. The length of this phase will vary as well depending on what needs to be done, time of year and weather.
The third step is monitoring and credit release. There is no guarantee of receiving credits if the wetland isn't restored, Lemm said. Landowners need to be aware of that risk, he said.
BWSR is only interested in restoring sites that were formerly wetlands.
The restored wetland doesn't have to be the same type as the wetland being mitigated, but it should be in the same wetland bank service area.
Wetlands outside the service area require a higher replacement ration, Lemm said. Credit is also given for wetland uplands area.
Monitoring occurs for three to five years after construction is completed, he said. Partial credit is allocated upon completion of the project with additional credits allocated if the project is successfully maintained. BWSR holds a permanent easement on land enrolled in the bank.
Any landowner, group or organization can establish a wetland bank site, Lemm said.
The going rate for credits is unknown at this time. The value of credits will be determined by the market and is a private transaction being the buyer and seller.
"I think the demand's going to be very high," Lemm said.
There are people who want to tile a farmed wetland in the middle of their field and replace that wetland with a credit from the wetland mitigation bank, but they are unable to proceed with tiling until they can purchase credits.
A landowner will need to obtain one credit for each acre drained.
Buyers and sellers can find one another on the BWSR website. Lemm said they are upgrading software to have a map showing the nearest bank sites to the entered address.
He expects the most demand in the southern and western parts of the state.