Abstract
To better protect the nation’s wetlands and streams, the Clean Water Act allows use
of compensatory mitigation to replace the benefits of lost wetlands and streams. This
study summarizes North Carolina’s use of preservation for compensatory mitigation
by private mitigation banks and a state-operated in-lieu fee (ILF) program. Within
private mitigation banks, preservation activities have generated 5.6% of wetland credits
and 9.1% of stream credits since 2008. Within the state in-lieu fee program run by
the Division of Mitigation Services, 45.0% of wetland credits and 6.2% of stream credits
have resulted from preservation. However, a majority of the wetland credits generated
by preservation in the ILF program came from one site described as unusually large
by program staff. Since 2008, North Carolina’s ILF program and mitigation banks have
continued to use preservation at relatively low rates for both wetland and stream
mitigation. Mitigation providers have stated that the clarity of the state’s preservation
policy makes it easier for preservation to be included in projects in North Carolina
than in projects in some other states. Notably, between 2012 and 2015, no wetland
preservation was used for mitigation by the ILF program.
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