Environmental Banc & Exchange

In the News

New Wetlands Coming to Fredericksburg
Innovative Project to be Built in Orange County, Virginia

March 22, 2006...Fredericksburg, VA: Environmental Banc and Exchange has received approval from the Virginia Mitigation Banking Team to create the Upper Rappahannock Wetlands Mitigation Bank. According to Randy Wilgis, Director of Business Development for the turn-key provider of ecosystem restoration and protection solutions, the new wetlands bank will be located in Orange County, VA, on 38 acres of floodplain and tributaries of Mountain Run, a part of the Upper Rappahannock River watershed.

"We are converting existing pastureland that has lost much of its natural value through intensive agricultural use back into a diverse natural area of forested wetlands and upland habitat," George Kelly, an EBX principal says "This project puts valuable wetlands and buffers back in place, promoting better water quality and preserving the environmental value of the land for future generations."

Now that it has been approved, the new mitigation bank will make 18.6 acres of wetlands mitigation credits available to meet future mitigation needs in the region. Credits will be available for purchase by contractors and developers who create unavoidable impacts on existing wetlands in the piedmont area, including parts of Orange, Culpepper, Fauquier, Rappahannock, Madison, Stafford, Spotsylvania, and King George counties.

The credits result from work EBX will do through wetland restoration and creation, wetland enhancement, wetland and buffer preservation, buffer enhancement, adjacent upland reforestation, and stream and stream buffer enhancement.

EBX officials plan to start construction this fall, and expect to complete the project by spring, 2007. Upon completion, EBX will monitor the project for six years to ensure its success, and will place the property into a conservation easement to further assure preservation of these lands in perpetuity.

The new bank is part of a larger 55 acre site. An adjacent 17 acres on that site have already been used for stream restoration and mitigation for stream impacts at the Silver Companies' Celebrate Virginia project.

According to EBX officials, co-locating the new 38 total acre project improves the overall value and performance of the wetland project by creating a larger, more significant ecosystem.

Mitigation banking is a system for dealing with the impacts to wetlands from various human activities, including building and road construction. When buildings and roads are permitted by government agencies, they are required to avoid and minimize any impacts to these types of sensitive environmental features. However, when there are unavoidable impacts, the person or company seeking the permit can mitigate the remaining impacts through the purchase of wetland mitigation credits from an ecosystem bank like this one. The permitting process for mitigation banks in Virginia is handled by the Virginia Mitigation Banking Review Team. Members of the team include representatives of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Also, members come from the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, the Marine Resources Commission, and the Institute of Marine Sciences.

Founded in 1997, Environmental Banc & Exchange is America's leading turn-key provider of ecosystem restoration and protection solutions. The firm has completed over thirty mitigation banks nationwide, restored thousands of acres of wetlands, renewed miles of stream, and rehabilitated numerous other critical habitats. EBX works with private and public sector clients to provide turn-key solutions which offset environmental impacts. Each solution involves the unique combination of products and services reflecting the particular project requirements and challenges.

Contact
Stephen Kaiser, PR counsel
410-467-7800