Mitigation Banking
With a long-standing reputation in environmental stewardship as well as extensive experience and expertise in environmental mitigation, The St. Joe Company has the resources to serve your needs. The St. Joe Company has operated two Mitigation Banks since 2004 and has offered mitigation solutions to numerous businesses - large and small - through our Mitigation Banks.
What is a Mitigation Bank?
A site or suite of sites where natural resources including wetland and wildlife habitats s are restored, established, enhanced and preserved on a large scale for the purpose of providing compensatory mitigation for unavoidable wetland impacts. Credits are released to the bank (made for sale) by an Interagency Regulatory Team as specific restoration projects are completed and objectives are met.
Acres in Mitigation
Breakfast Point – approximately 5030 acres, located in PCB north of Hwy 98 and South of West Bay
Breakfast Point Mitigation Map
Devil’s Swamp – approximately 3110 acres, located on Bay/Walton county line north of ICW on Hwy 79
Benefit to Community
• Establishment of a mitigation bank brings together financial resources, ecological planning and scientific expertise. Consolidating these resources increases the potential for long-term successful mitigation that maximizes contribution to the environment improving water quality, ecological function and wildlife utilization.
• A large-scale mitigation bank project has the opportunity to maintain the integrity of the aquatic ecosystem and upland interfaces. It sets aside large, contiguous tracts of land for preservation in perpetuity.
• Reduces uncertainty over whether the compensatory mitigation will be successful in offsetting project impacts.
• Assemble and apply extensive financial resources, planning, and scientific expertise not always available to many permittee-responsible compensatory mitigation projects.
• Reduce permit processing times and provide more cost-effective compensatory mitigation opportunities.
• Enable the efficient use of limited agency resources in the review and compliance monitoring of compensatory mitigation through consolidation.
What is a Credit?
The ecological value of one acre of fully functioning, pristine wetlands is determined by the regulatory agencies. One credit is not the equivalent to one acre of wetland impacts. Credits are used to represent the ecological improvements at a bank site. The improvements are typically considered in terms of benefits to natural resources including: water quality, landscape, vegetative community structure, wildlife usage and other resources expected from the improvements implemented at the bank site. The number of credits earned by a bank is determined by the regulatory agencies based on the quantity and quality of the resources that are restored, created (established), enhanced, or preserved. Credits may be measured in terms of functional units determined using an assessment methodology established through the mitigation banking permitting process.
Why Buy Credits?
A developer using a mitigation bank will have reduced permitting time by streamlining the permitting process and reduce their regulatory burden by not having to complete all of the activities and monitoring associated with permittee responsible mitigation.
How to Buy Credits
The developer should work with a consultant to delineate wetlands on the property. Then using an engineer, create a site plan and determine the areas of wetland impact necessary for the project. Your consultant will then work with the regulatory agencies to complete a UMAM (Uniform Mitigation Assessment Methodology) assessment to determine the amount and type of mitigation credits required for your project. Complete the Mitigation Bank Credit Purchase Application and send to the St. Joe Mitigation Banker. A mitigation bank purchase agreement will be drafted at which time a deposit will need to be paid. At this time a letter of reservation can be drafted which will then be provided to the regulatory agency and your permit may be issued. Provide the permits to the mitigation banking team, once they have been issued and the credits can be withdrawn from the bank. The agencies will require this final approval in the permit conditions.
Mitigation Bank Credit Purchase Application
For more information on how you can take advantage of this simple, cost effective solution contact:Catherine McCloy
Catherine.McCloy@joe.com
850.231.7402
