December 12, 2016
David Flick, Principal and Founder of Terra Technologies, announces that the 138-acre Gasconade River Wetland and Stream Mitigation Bank has been approved by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. This restoration site will provide compensatory mitigation for the future impacts of development and infrastructure projects to wetlands and streams throughout the Gasconade River watershed in central Missouri.
This site contains approximately 8 acres of created riparian corridor and almost 34 acres of wetlands surrounded by about 95 acres of upland prairie and forest buffers. In addition, the bank surrounds a 16.5-acre permittee-responsible mitigation site which contains notably high botanical and wetland habitat diversity.
This unique site consists of a broad, low-lying valley surrounded by a crescent-shaped steep Ozark hillside. The agricultural conversion and crop production on the property involved the clearing of all of the natural vegetation in the Bank’s valley, straightening the onsite stream, preventing the regrowth of a meaningful riparian buffer, draining much of the Bank, and logging the forested hillside.
The shallow local topography and poorly drained soils presented an opportunity to spread the water carried by the stream across a wide area through the construction of berms designed to emulate the long flat beaver dams that would historically have made similar small ponds and wetlands in flat tributary valleys such as the one that occurs in the Bank. Additional earthwork imitated the morphology of two stream terraces and created more wetlands with significant microtopography. Stream habitat was also improved by removing a piped farm crossing that was preventing natural flow patterns.
As an indication of the quality of the wildlife habitat provided by this site, observations of small-mouthed salamanders (Ambystoma texanum) at this mitigation bank were verified by the Missouri Herpetological Association as the first official recordings of the presence of that species in Gasconade County. In addition, the Gasconade River Wetland and Stream Mitigation Bank has been verified as also containing marbled salamanders (Ambystoma opacum). This was the first official observation of marbled salamanders in Gasconade County in almost 30 years, reviving the status of this species from being historically present to be currently residing in that area. Several central newts (Notophthalmus viridescens louisianensis ) have also been observed at this location.
For more information about mitigation services, contact your local office of Terra Technologies.
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