Environmental Banc & Exchange

Our Work

Wetland Restoration and Banking

Three wetland restoration and banking sites illustrate how EBX was able to provide environmental offset services for clients in North Carolina, Virginia, and Florida. EBX provided turn-key solutions which alleviated client risk and capital expenditure.

Problem

Private enterprises and public agencies need to undertake wetland restoration projects to offset the unavoidable negative environmental impacts associated with their development activities. Compensatory mitigation, which is required by federal law, is resource and time intensive and is often out of a development organization’s scope of work; the ability to partner with an organization who can manage the mitigation process in an efficient and expert manner is crucial to the success and on-time delivery of development projects.

Partners and Process

EBX has completed more than 6,000 acres of wetland restoration and preservation. In each case, customers retained EBX who provided a turn-key solution for their restoration needs. After identifying tracts of land that would provide ecologically appropriate restoration opportunities, EBX established a relationship with the landowners to arrange for restoration activities and conservation easements. EBX also alleviated their clients of all of the mitigation 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.

Select Wetland Mitigation Projects

	Wetland Acres Restored or Under Contract	Stream Linear Feet Restored or Under Contract
Florida South Florida Water Management District	2,750	n/a
St John's River Basin	2,104	n/a
North Carolina Neuse River Basin	1,261	28,142
Tar-Pam River Basin	86	6,757
Cape Fear River Basin	53	35,260
Catawba River Basin	31	46,422
Yadkin River Basin	26	26,437
Virginia Roanoke River Basin	112	16,398
South Carolina	200 (pending)	n/a

Examples

Wetland Area

Nahunta Swamp Site-Wayne County, North Carolina

Client & Need

The North Carolina Department of Transportation sought a restoration project to offset the disturbance of wetlands in conjunction with road-building activity.

Description

117 acres of fully-functioning wetlands were restored within the impaired Neuse-River basin. An additional 31 acres of existing wetlands were preserved and protected with a permanent conservation easement.

Wetland Area

Upper Rappahannock River Basin-Orange County, Virginia

Client & Need

The Upper Rappahannock Wetland Mitigation Bank is a speculative banking instrument that was created to serve the future mitigation needs of developers in the Fredericksburg, Virginia area. Fredericksburg is one of the twenty fastest growing areas in the nation. Credits from the bank are available to buyers in the Upper Rappahannock River region.

Description

The Bank consists of a combination of wetland restoration/creation, wetland enhancement, wetland and buffer preservation, and reforestation of upland and stream buffers.

Wetland Area

Various Florida Counties

Client & Need

To service the high growth and rapid development in Florida, EBX affiliates sought EBX’s help to facilitate wetland mitigation banking. EBX has partnered with the Sundew Wetland Mitigation Bank as an investor, and with the Bluefield Mitigation Bank as a bridge loan provider. In both cases, EBX’s capital contribution was integral to the success of the Bank. For EBX, each project presented an opportunity to leverage capital for the benefit of the environment and for an attractive return.

Success

EBX has restored wetlands where they used to occur, has enhanced and preserved existing wetlands, and has re-connected adjacent wetland areas to create larger, more ecologically rich ecosystems. Through restoration EBX improves the values of a wetland ecosystem as it relates to erosion control, fisheries/wildlife habitat, flood alleviation and water quality.

Ecological Significance

Wetlands have become increasingly important ecological resources as they have become increasingly scarce. Non-riverine wet hardwood forest and coastal plain small stream swamp communities 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 compromised the ecological health of the land, and have contributed to deteriorating water quality conditions in the adjacent watersheds.