Conservation and Mitigation Banking

A conservation or mitigation bank is privately or publicly owned land managed for its natural resource values. In exchange for permanently protecting the land, the bank operator is allowed to sell habitat credits to developers who need to satisfy legal requirements for compensating environmental impacts of development projects.

A conservation or mitigation bank is a free-market enterprise that --

• offers landowners economic incentives to protect natural resources;
• saves developers time and money by providing them with the certainty of pre-approved compensation lands and provides for long-term protection and management of habitat.

Conservation Banking

A conservation bank generally protects threatened and endangered species habitat. Credits are established for the specific sensitive species that occur on the site. Conservation banks must be approved by the wildlife agencies, such as the Department of Fish and Game and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Mitigation Banking

Mitigation banking is the same concept as conservation banking, but is specifically for wetland restoration, creation, and enhancement undertaken to compensate for unavoidable wetland losses. Use of mitigation bank credits must occur in advance of development, when the compensation cannot be achieved at the development site or would not be as environmentally beneficial. Mitigation banking helps to consolidate small, fragmented wetland mitigation projects into large contiguous sites which will have much higher wildlife habitat values. Mitigation banks are generally approved by the wildlife agencies and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Mitigation Banking Templates Released on May 9, 2008

In a statewide multi-agency team effort, and as a result of a 2006 multi-agency Memorandum of Understanding, mitigation banking templates were released via  U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Public Notice (PDF) on May 9, 2008. A second Public Notice (PDF) was published on September 11, 2008 announcing the templates and a stakeholder meeting to be held on September 30, 2008.

The agencies represented in this template-development effort include: the California Resources Agency, California Department of Fish and Game, USACE, US Fish and Wildlife Service, US Environmental Protection Agency, US Department of Agriculture - Natural Resources Conservation Service, and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association - National Marine Fisheries Service.

The finalized banking template documents include the following:

1. bank enabling instrument (BEI)
2. conservation easement
3. long-term management plan
4. checklist
5. property assessment and warranty.

For more information on conservation and mitigation banking, use the links on the right side of the page.