What is mitigation banking? How does it work?
First, A Public Works Agency or private landowner needs to impact streams on their property. In the past, they would have had to restore streams as compensation, either on or off their site. Under the market-oriented system, they can go to a bank created by a Bank Sponsor who has obtained credit for restoring impaired streams elsewhere in the same portion of the rivershed & physiographic province. By purchasing stream credits from the Bank Sponsor, the mitigation requirements of a permit for stream impacts is satisfied. Stream restorers use this pooled money to create much larger, well-designed, & ecologically valuable conservation projects.
