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The United States Army Corps of Engineers (Vicksburg District) (“Corps”) issued a November 13th Public Notice regarding a proposal by WYCAR Land Company, LLC, to establish a wetland mitigation bank (“Bank”). See Application No. MVK-2018-862.

The proposal encompasses the proposed establishment of the Falcon SP Mitigation Bank (“FMB”) which would be located in Lafayette and Nevada Counties, Arkansas.

Section 404 of the Clean Water Act requires a permit be obtained from the Corps for certain activities in jurisdictional waters. A frequent condition of such permit is mitigation of environmental impacts to rivers, streams, or wetlands. The Corps may require that a party proposing the project purchase credits from a mitigation bank or an in-lieu fee program in the same area to compensate for such impacts.

The mitigation bank is generally a wetland, stream, or other aquatic resource area that has been restored, established, enhanced, or (in certain circumstances) preserved for the purpose of providing compensation for unavoidable impacts to aquatic resources permitted under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act. The value of a bank is defined in compensation mitigation credits.

A mitigation bank’s instrument identifies the number of credits available for sale and an assessment is typically undertaken to certify that the credits provide the required ecological functions. Some banks operate as commercial enterprises selling their credits to permit applicants needing to provide required mitigation.

The proposed Bank location is described as approximately 6.5 files northeast of Stamps, Arkansas. The Bank is characterized as currently consisting of forested land and non-riparian areas maintained for silviculture activities. It is described as consisting of approximately:

• 557 acres
• 214 acres of wetlands
• 30,950 linear feet of streams
• 33.9 acres of scrub-shrub wetlands
• 180.2 acres of forested wetlands
• Two intermittent streams (totaling approximately 26,150 linear feet)
• One perennial stream (totaling approximately 4,800 linear feet)

The Bank sponsor is stated to intend for the Bank to serve as a stream restoration and bottomland hardwood mitigation bank.

The proposed Bank would be located in the Bayou Dorcheat watershed.

The United States Geological Survey hydrologic Unit Code 11140203 and 11140205 encompasses the proposed Bank.

A copy of the Public Notice can be downloaded here.