Thursday, February 15, 2018
David Flick, Principal and Founder of Terra Technologies, is proud to announce that the Kansas City District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has approved the Nishnabotna / Platte EDU Wetland and Stream Umbrella Mitigation Bank along with its first mitigation site. This umbrella mitigation bank will function as a regional mitigation program in northwest Missouri within all areas that drain to the Missouri River from the Iowa state line to the Kansas City area.
An umbrella mitigation bank operates as an ongoing mitigation program across an entire watershed by providing a policy framework that guides the establishment of an initial on-the-ground mitigation site as well as numerous future mitigation locations. The umbrella mitigation bank document includes an analysis of historical and current water quality issues within the watershed that identifies immediate and long-term habitat and water quality needs and then determines which locations should receive the highest priority for the establishment of future mitigation sites. The umbrella mitigation bank document also sets policy guidelines about the creation and operation of the mitigation sites, including such factors as performance standards, financial assurances, credit calculations methods, and long-term management.
Situated at the confluence of the Platte River and Castile Creek, the 291-acre Castile Creek mitigation site is the first location developed as part of the Nishnabotna / Platte EDU Wetland and Stream Mitigation Bank.
In its pre-mitigation state as an agricultural property, this site consists of large expanses of artificially drained flat farm fields with levees protecting 170 acres of farmland from flooding, reducing the connectivity between the Platte River and Castile Creek and their floodplain and therefore exacerbating flooding elsewhere. Additionally, several ephemeral streams have been eradicated or highly modified by agricultural earthwork.
These impairments will be addressed through the following activities:
- Restoring floodplain connectivity through multiple levee breaches along the Platte River and Castile Creek
- Restoring or enhancing 119 acres of riparian buffers
- Preserving 2 acres of existing riparian buffers
- Restoring 84 acres of herbaceous wetlands and 53 acres of forested wetlands
- Establishing or preserving almost 19 acres of wetland buffers and adjacent uplands
- Restoring normal sinuosity and channel dimensions to a previously eradicated ephemeral stream
Mitigation activities are scheduled to begin in 2018.
For more information about mitigation services, contact your local office of Terra Technologies.
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