“A novel private-public effort to restore California tiger salamander and other protected species in a large area of central Sonoma County and allow for some construction may be coming out of hibernation less than a month after the seven-year effort was nearly dead for lack of public funds and uncertainty about the regulatory outcome.”

The Port of Portland is looking to build a marine cargo terminal on what, until now, has been a wild part of Hayden Island in the Colombia River. The Port is running into strong opposition from neighbors and environmentalists wanting to protect that end of the island in its entirety. Some neighbors have suggested placing the property in a mitigation bank.

Collier County’s conservation council unanimously supports the purchase of Pepper Ranch for environmental preservation. The 2,500-acre tract would be the program’s biggest purchase, at $33.2 million. An option the County is aware of is using the property as a mitigation bank to meet state and federal environmental permitting requirements for road and utility projects.

According to regulatory comments filed by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), the Maine Department of Transportation’s (DOT) proposed “Umbrella Mitigation Bank Prospectus” would permit destruction of wetlands and not replace them with wetlands preservation or creation of equal quality. Their overarching concern is that wetland mitigation fails more often than not. Read press release here

Until now, developing unused land in Douglas County, OR has been nearly impossible. Because of an abundance of wetlands and very little land is available for off-site mitigation, companies interested in setting up shop in the county have gone elsewhere. But since December 2006, Roseburg’s Economic Development Commission has been working with a consultant to explore possible wetland mitigation bank sites. Eight have been identified.

"The main thing we found is that if you want to conserve species, that policy might not be compatible with carbon sequestration," said co-author Andrew Plantinga, a professor in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at Oregon State University. "On the other hand, if you want to get carbon out of the atmosphere, it's not clear that will be good for species."

The Washington Department of Ecology is seeking advice from farmers and the public about its new draft rule on wetland mitigation banks. Many Washington farmers say the banks are a land grab that threatens agriculture's critical land mass. Once they have assembled sufficient information, the department plans to make revisions and then publish the proposed rules for public comment – probably in November.

Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary recently gave 1,280 acres of its surplus land to the South Florida Water Management District in exchange for two parcels that boarder the sanctuary. The two parcels, 640 acres and 480 acres, will be restored as a mitigation bank. The properties, which are adjacent to the Panther Island Mitigation Bank, were wetlands that were cleared for agriculture in the 1970s. The district plans to put trails on the 1,280 acres that it gained.

Wildlands Inc., of Rocklin, California, has proposed setting aside 266 acres in Eagle Point for conservation and restoration of wetlands. The property is part of the Agate Desert and home to federally listed threatened vernal pool fairy shrimp and other rare species. With permit applications pending with the Oregon Department of State Lands and the US Army Corps of Engineers, Wildlands hope to get permitting for their Rogue Valley Mitigation Bank by early 2009.