 |
 Vol.
3, No. 2: January 30, 2008
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Cherry Creek Properties Inc. recently donated the 520-acre Cherry Creek Wetland Mitigation Bank to the University of Georgia’s Warnell School of Forestry. The property will provide the UGA Warnell School with an annual percentage of the money that comes from wetland credits sold. The land has been appraised at a value of approximately $2.5 million.
Goodge plans to build a new campus on an 18-acre parcel of land in Mountain View. The city is leasing the land to Google but it is trying to figure out how the company can live in harmony with the rare and protected burrowing owl. Among other efforts, the city is spending $146,000 to buy permanent habitat for the owls through an Alameda County conservation bank.
Santa Cruz approved an agreement that will allow a company to set aside land that will preserve unique habitat known as the Zayante Sandhills while enabling homeowners to more easily navigate permit hurdles. The conservation bank would manage about 23 acres of sandhills habitat in Ben Lomond. The bank’s credits are sold at $7.50 per square foot of habitat, according to a county staff report. So, a home addition of 500 square feet would cost $3,750 worth of credits.
– Read story in SantaCruzSentinel.Com (Santa Cruz, California)
A controversial development on the Taylor County coast continues to be met with objections from environmental groups and state agencies, which question the impact of a golf course, hotel and condominiums on wetlands near the Gulf of Mexico. The developers are offering to restore and create a total of 257 acres of wetlands and buy three credits from a wetlands mitigation bank.
Westervelt Ecological Services recently established the Burke Ranch Conservation Bank. The 960-acre bank is one of the largest vernal pool conservation banks in Solano County. The bank is currently approved to sell vernal pool preservation credits to developers in Solano county and other locations on a case-by-case basis. The site may also support California tiger salamander, burrowing owl, and Swainson’s hawk. It is the only bank to have documented the presence of the Delta Ground Green Beetle, which is protected under the Federal Endangered Species Act.
"Through Alabama's aquatic ecosystem restoration program, Hood and others in the state are returning streams and wetlands to the condition they were in before waters become degraded through erosion, mining and artificial straightening or redirecting of the streams. ...If (developers) are going to impact streams or wetlands, they must show that they also are going to provide mitigation – changes that strengthen the streams or wetlands – to offset those impacts."
– Read story in the Montgomery Advisor (Montgomery, Alabama)
Lee County, Florida is considering setting up a gopher tortoise mitigation bank. County staff are considering two sites for a mitigation bank: one in the Caloosahatchee Regional Park near Alva, and the other on an 80-acre dredge-spoil site next to the park — the county leases the site from the South Florida Water Management District.
Wildlands, Inc. announced the approval of its 273-acre Pajaro River Mitigation Bank located in San Benito County, California. The bank includes nearly 150 acres of created seasonal wetland credits and serves a four-county area, including portions of Monterey, San Benito, Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties.
– Read story in Santa Cruz Sentinel (Santa Cruz, California)
"Cities and states price out how much money they can make on new property developments. But what if that land was left alone? There may be a cash incentive to leaving nature untouched. Janet Babin reports."
Biologists are reporting that up to 20 percent of the breeding population is wiped out each season, crushed under the wheels of cars. A coalition of developers, environmental activists, farmers and local government officials have been working on a plan to ensure the survival of the species. They have agreed on a conservation strategy encompassing 4,000 acres and are hammering out the details for executing it.
Eighteen students from Seacrest High School were happy to get out of the classroom and into the swamp. The students spent their last day before winter vacation touring Panther Island Mitigation Bank. Seacrest teacher Bill Hammond said he hopes the students not only get an appreciation for the environment, but also for the economic impact of the project. "I want them to know that good environmentalism and good economics are connected," he said.
|
|
|
|
|
|
| ||||||||
