Environmental Banc & Exchange

Our Work

The North Carolina Neu-Con “Umbrella” Wetland Mitigation and Stream Restoration Bank

In many situations it is advantageous to our clients to aggregate environmental offset demands into what are called “umbrella” banks. EBX recently completed a 3,000 acre bank which mitigated significant stream and wetland impact in North Carolina.

Problem

The state of North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) was experiencing major delays of various road building and maintenance projects in the Neuse River watershed. These delays were due in part to a lack of available mitigation credits to offset the proposed wetland and stream impacts of the various projects. As the NCDOT continued to be delayed, costs to the community of the pending road-building projects were accruing daily.

Partners & Process

The NCDOT retained EBX to help offset their environmental impacts. EBX was able to offer a comprehensive turn-key solution through our Neu-Con Umbrella Mitigation Bank. The Bank encompassed more than 3,000 acres of land and is comprised of seven ecosystem restoration and preservation sites located within the vicinity of the impaired North Carolina Neuse River and its tributaries.

Success

Through the comprehensive restoration approach, EBX has also been able to provide the opportunity for significant environmental improvement to the Neuse River watershed while enabling the NCDOT to move forward on a timely basis with the transportation infrastructure projects important to the development of the local economy. This was accomplished in a way that provided NCDOT immediate mitigation credits, while alleviating them of all mitigation implementation risk. These risks included capital risk in land acquisition, technical risk in implementation, performance risk in the long-term viability of the restoration, and market risk in credit sales.

Ecological Significance

Wetlands, which were once abundant in the coastal plain of North Carolina, have become increasingly important ecological resources. Non-riverine wet hardwood forest and coastal plain small stream swamp ecosystems, which are characteristic of eastern North Carolina, are easily drained and make excellent farmland. What have resulted are former wetland systems that have been converted to agricultural use by the construction of large drainage ditch systems. These systems have significantly changed the character of North Carolina’s land, and have contributed to deteriorating water quality conditions in the adjacent watersheds.

The Neuse River is one of these compromised watersheds and has been designated as a Nutrient Sensitive Water. The agricultural drainage systems built on prior converted wetlands have allowed agricultural pollutants, such as sediment, nutrients and pesticides, to reach surface water with little or no filtering.

Acreage Restored

Within the Neuse River watershed, EBX’s NeuCon mitigation bank has created wetlands where they used to occur, and has enhanced existing wetlands for added water quality and wildlife habitat functions. The tally of ecosystem impacts includes:

• Over 1,200 acres of wetlands restored and conserved from converted agricultural land.
• 23,000 linear feet of stream restored