Abstract
A mitigation bank is a large wetland or wetland complex that is restored or created for the sake of selling credits to private developers or government agencies to compensate for the loss of natural wetlands. Mitigation banking is now emphasized within federal environmental policy. Proponents of banking claim that banking is beneficial to the environment, but studies have shown that this practice threatens biodiversity. The problem is consolidation. With banking, wetlands in a broad geographical area are collapsed into a relatively small area. Wetlands within banks tend to be larger and they are less diverse in type than the wetlands that are lost. Studies have shown that consolidation threatens the diversity and abundance of amphibians and wetland birds. Mitigation banking actually rests, not on arguments concerning its environmental benefits, but on arguments concerning the benefits it provides to humans.
Highlights
A mitigation bank is a large wetland or wetland complex that is restored or created for the purpose of selling credits to compensate for the loss of natural wetlands
In a position paper on banking, the Society of Wetland Scientists (SWS) (2007) states: “Generally, large wetlands are preferred over small ones because they provide habitat for species that do not survive in small, isolated wetlands” (Scientific Considerations section)
In their study of compensatory mitigation wetlands in Ohio, the authors found that typically one large wetland is created for every 3 smaller wetlands that are lost to development
Summary
A mitigation bank is a large wetland or wetland complex that is restored or created for the purpose of selling credits to compensate for the loss of natural wetlands. The new rule states: “the district engineer should give preference to the use of mitigation bank credits ...” In a recent report on banking, the California Department of Fish and Game (2007) makes this strong claim: “Mitigation banking helps to consolidate small, fragmented wetland mitigation projects into large, contiguous sites which will have much higher wildlife habitat values" (Mitigation Banking section). According to the Delta Mitigation Bank (2008), “the environment benefits from having one large, high quality wetland rather than several traditional ‘postage stamp’ off-site wetlands” (Benefits page)
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