Mitigation Credits, In-Lieu Fee

About

In-Lieu Fee is a method of “compensatory mitigation” used to compensate for unavoidable impacts to streams and wetlands due to development, road construction, or other projects. The developer pays a fee to a sponsor, such as the Land Learning Foundation. The fee represents the expected costs of replacing stream or wetland functions that will be lost or degraded as a result of the development. The Land Learning Foundation then pools the funds and uses them to identify, plan, build, and maintain conservation projects at “mitigation sites,” and to monitor and protect them in perpetuity.

The U.S. has a legislative goal of no net loss of wetlands (marshes, fens, bogs, etc.) despite growth and development that sometimes has an unavoidable impact. EPA requires developers to avoid or minimize impacts to wetlands, and to provide compensatory mitigation where an impact is unavoidable. Wetland mitigation banking is a cost-effective way of compensating for those impacts through conservation offsets where a project would otherwise be too expensive, or even impossible, to build without destroying wetlands. In 2015, wetland mitigation banking was a $3B industry.

At no out-of-pocket cost to local jurisdictions, Land Learning Foundation is a potential partner, using in-lieu mitigation fees to provide funding for conservation activities including wetland restoration, streambank stabilization, riparian restoration, and land acquisition in exchange for a commitment to long-term protection through a conservation easement.

---

 Project Examples

More Info/Resources

In-Lieu Fee Program Instrument Outline – KS and MO Article: Developing a Sustainable In-Lieu Fee Program