WETLAND MITIGATION

Unlike Wetland Banking or Wetland "Clumping" (Aggregation), Wetland Mitigation deals with those actions taken to avoid, minimize, or deter the need to adversely affect existing Wetlands and similar habitats. Wetland mitigation deals in three fundamental areas: (1) Avoidance: involving a comprehensive evaluation of practicable alternatives to the proposed actions to demonstrate that the least environmentally damaging practicable alternative that satisfies the project purpose has been selected; (2) Minimization: where some actions adversely affecting existing wetland areas are unavoidable, then steps must taken to insure that such adverse effects are minimized to every extent possible; and (3) Compensatory Mitigation: in the case of extensive or substantive wetland impacts, then alternative actions must be taken in conjunction to the proposed project to insure that new areas are added to existing wetland inventory (banking) and/or that alternative and comparable wetland habitat is created (clumping and aggregation). Wetland banking and clumping (aggregation) concepts are only involved in the compensatory mitigation stage, and possibly the minimization of impacts stage, when all other actions have failed to prevent substantive impacts on existing wetlands. Also see Wetland Mitigation Bank.