MOTIVATION FOR MITIGATION
Understanding Mitigation The strategy is new for TNC in Missouri, and it has a lot of promise for conservation
Ideally, building a factory would never fill in a wetland. A new housing development would not affect a nearby stream. But construction doesn't always play out that way. That's where mitigation comes in. Mitigation is a way to offset damage to water resources when better options are not possible. That might involve building new wetlands or restoring a streambank at another location to help compensate for the ecological harm. "Mitigation is third in the hierarchy of what we're looking at," explains Wes Hauser, mitigation strategy manager for The Nature Conservancy in Missouri. "First, you want to avoid your impacts to the extent possible and then minimize your impacts where they are unavoidable." If government regulators conclude a project can't be changed to avoid or minimize its impact, the federal Clean Water Act allows for those responsible to buy mitigation credits, which represent restored or enhanced water resources-usually wetlands, stream or open water-near where the impacts occurred. An emerging mitigation industry is growing to meet the demand for those credits. TNC in Missouri has been working toward establishing its first mitigation bank-a site where the Conservancy would do high-quality restoration work, or even create new wetlands, and then sell credits to fund more work. Hauser, who joined TNC in 2021 to head up the mitigation strategy, has been visiting conservation partners in the Kansas City area and touring the Blue River. The Blue, with its mix of impacts from nearby development and outdoors
opportunities, is an example of a place where mitigation can make a big difference.
"Building wetlands and building streams and preserving parts of the Blue River that folks can access through a highly developed trail system provides an excellent opportunity for connecting folks with nature, which is what we like to do at The Nature Conservancy," Hauser says. Much of the mitigation banking industry runs through private companies, but Hauser says it is important for TNC to be involved. Not only does it give TNC another avenue for doing conservation work and blunting ecological harm, it can help influence an emerging industry for the better. A team comprising the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Fish and Wildlife, and state regulatory agencies review mitigation plans, but the process still allows for private companies to push forward projects that maximize profits while doing only the minimum for conservation. There are private companies doing good work, Hauser says, but TNC can model best practices and raise the bar for everyone. "Hopefully, with TNC being engaged in this work, we're reigning in any bad actors that may exist in the mitigation banking space," he says.
SCAN THIS CODE or visit nature.org/mopodcast to hear from Wes and learn more about mitigation on a special episode of It's in Our Nature.
14 MISSOURI: ACTION AND IMPACT
THIS PAGE The Blue River is vital to the Kansas City metropolitan area. © Heartland Conservation Alliance
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