December 12, 2016
David Flick, Principal and Founder of Terra Technologies, announces that the 65-acre Stranger Creek Wetland and Stream Mitigation Bank has sold out of all wetland and stream credits and is being administratively closed out by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers after meeting all of its requirements. This mitigation bank was the first stream mitigation bank in Kansas and the first wetland mitigation bank outside of Johnson County.
Located in southern Leavenworth County, this restoration site was used as compensation for impacts to wetlands and streams in much of northeastern Kansas, including the portion of the Kansas City metropolitan area within Kansas. The ecological improvements made on this site provided mitigation for 43 separate projects permitted by the federal and state governments, including several school expansions, roadway and railroad projects, and municipal improvements in addition to numerous residential and commercial developments.
Concentrating the mitigation for all of these development projects into one location led to substantial economies of scale in both natural and economic terms when compared to the value of 43 scattered separate smaller restoration projects. This single large mitigation site created more high-quality interior habitat, more effective buffering from adjacent land uses, and longer pathways for water to travel, causing more chemical pollution to be removed. The construction and monitoring of one large site also reduced permitting timeframes for the public and the regulatory agencies when compared to tens of smaller sites. Similarly, mitigation banks also minimize construction and monitoring expenses, ultimately lowering costs for developers and governmental agencies and therefore the public.
Swallow Tail, LLC (the mitigation bank owner) recognized the restoration potential of this site and initiated several important ecological improvements. These included reducing stream bank erosion along Stranger Creek by constructing a 300-foot long longitudinal peaked stone toe bank stabilization project and planting willow cuttings along 1,800 feet of the Stranger Creek bank, widening the Stranger Creek riparian buffer to 300 feet, creating or restoring more than 18 acres of floodplain wetlands and restoring more than 3,000 linear feet of channelized intermittent streams to natural stream channels with 200-foot wide riparian buffers. As a result of these restoration activities, this mitigation bank is reducing the amount of nutrients and sediment flowing to Stranger Creek across the property, is providing additional flood storage capacity, and is acting as valuable habitat for wildlife.
For more information about mitigation services, contact your local office of Terra Technologies.
|
|
