Mitigation credits are a means of encouraging individuals and organizations to invest in mitigation projects in the Deschutes Basin. Mitigation projects may be completed by any person or mitigation bank interested in holding, applying, selling, and/or exchanging mitigation credits under the Deschutes Groundwater Mitigation Program. You don’t have to be a groundwater permit applicant to establish, hold and/or convey mitigation credits. However, please note that only a mitigation bank may establish and hold mitigation credits based on instream leases and time-limited instream transfers.
A mitigation credit is an accounting unit for mitigation water. One acre-foot of mitigation water is equivalent to one mitigation credit. Mitigation water is the volume of water legally protected instream resulting from completion of a mitigation project. Based upon review of a mitigation project, the department identifies the amount of mitigation water resulting from a mitigation project and the location (zone or zones of impact) within which that mitigation may be used.
Mitigation credits held by a mitigation credit holder may be assigned to groundwater permit applicants, permit holders, and certificate holders with mitigation requirements within the DGWSA. Once assigned to a groundwater application, permit or certificate, the mitigation credit is considered used and no longer valid. Mitigation credits may also be conveyed or assigned to another credit holder or mitigation bank.
One of the most commonly used mitigation project types is the permanent instream transfer. A complete list of potential mitigation projects that may be used to establish mitigation credits can be found on the Departments
Mitigation Projects page.