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Onsite Mitigation is conducting the compsensatory wetland mitigation project on the same parcel as the wetland impact. Often this is the best way to replace the lost functions close to where they will be lost. For example, if localized flooding is a problem, it’s important to maintain the flood storage capability of wetlands in the same area. Sometimes, however, onsite mitigation is not practical or would not be ecologically successful.
Offsite Mitigation is conducting the mitigation project somewhere other than on the development site. It may be done through a legal agreement with another landowner, or by purchasing wetland mitigation credits from a mitigation bank. The offsite mitigation needs to be located in the same watershed and replace the same type of wetland functions that were lost.
A Mitigation Bank is a business venture in which a large wetland is restored to generate wetland credits for sale to offset unavoidable wetland impacts from development. Each bank has a service area in which it may sell credits, subject to approval of each removal-fill permit. State and federal regulatory agencies oversee bank plans and release credits to the banker only after the bank meets performance measures. To determine whether bank credits are available for a specific development, contact the banker(s) whose bank service areas overlap with your project location.
Buying bank credits
Establishing a mitigation bank
Payment-in-lieu of Mitigation is a state program for small-impact projects where no bank credits are available and the developer cannot find a suitable mitigation site. The developer pays into the mitigation revolving fund an amount equal to the statewide average price of mitigation bank credits. Click here for current amount. Money paid into this fund is used to restore, create and enhance wetlands through a grant program. Currently, the Corps of Engineers does not recognize payment-in-lieu of mitigation, so this option is not available if your project is subject to both state and federal jurisdiction.
Payment in Lieu Program FAQs
Mitigation for Other Waters: Projects on streams or riverbanks may also require mitigation to offset adverse impacts to water resources and navigation, fishing or public recreation uses on those waters. Compensatory mitigation for non-wetland waters may include onsite or offsite improvement or enhancement of water resources, or compensation to a third party to conduct, monitor and maintain such mitigation sites.
Mitigation ratios are defined in the Mitigation Fact Sheet.
Estuarine Waters
Compensatory Mitigation for Impacts to Estuaries: Projects that will impact an intertidal area of an estuary are required to offset adverse impacts by restoring estuarine habitat within the same estuary as the impact site. The amount of mitigation required is dependent upon the relative value of the habitat at the impact site in relation to the value of the habitat that is being proposed at the mitigation site, as described here .
Estuarine mitigation is required if your project is within a tidally influenced body of water. To determine if your project is within an estuary, check the location of the head of tide for the body of water that you are working within (see Table of Contents) in the 1989 document Heads of Tide for Coastal Streams in Oregon. Pages 85-88 of this document contain the elevation of highest measured tide relative to the tidal datum of Mean Lower Low Water (MLLW).
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