Red Stone Farm wetland mitigation bank, by Karen Reynolds

Touring the emergent wetlands at Red Stone Farm.

Wetland ecosystems are diminishing at a faster rate than any other ecosystem in the United States.  They are often drained or filled to make flat, usable farmland, although they are also destroyed during the construction of roads, housing developments, or industrial sites.  Prior to the passage of the Clean Water Act in 1972, little thought was given to restoring wetlands that had been damaged through industrial development.  However, Section 404 of the Clean Water Act set in place standards and requirements for the restoration and mitigation of destroyed wetlands, overseen by the Army Corps of Engineers.

                        

Mitigation is the process of restoring, enhancing, or protecting wetlands in proportion to those destroyed or damaged during building projects.  Any party that intends on building over a wetland can take one of four options: work around existing wetlands, recreate a wetland area on site, recreate a wetland area off site, or buy credits from a wetland mitigation bank.  Even in if the project decides to work around an existing wetland, they may still have to mitigate due to any damage or pollution that the project might cause.  In recent years, the use of mitigation banks has become the favored method, both by companies - for whom it is far easier to pay someone else to take care of their mitigation - and ecologists - who are recognizing the benefit of creating banks rather than isolated wetlands.  Mitigation banks can offer the restoration of a variety of different types of wetlands to best suit different project requirements and can provide a higher quality wetland than an individual restoration attempt.

The process of applying for
mitigation bank status
requires writing hundreds
of pages in reports.

It may seem strange to offset the destruction of one wetland by putting in another one in a completely different area, but there are some clear benefits to using mitigation banks.  Firstly, the banks are highly regulated and are required to be put into areas where they will thrive.  This means that wetlands will be restored in areas that were originally wetlands, so the soil, hydrology, and plant life will be easier to restore.  These areas can be specifically chosen to be far away from metropolitan areas, which leads to cleaner wetlands with fewer invasive species.  Secondly, larger areas of wetlands tend to have a higher success rate than smaller ones.  This is because they have a smaller edge compared to their surface area, reducing the entry points for invasives.  Also, the larger area can include forest buffer zones and effectively protect a larger part of the watershed.  Thirdly, mitigation banks are highly monitored and all the data collected becomes part of public record, creating a huge source of data on wetland restoration that can be used for future programs.  Finally, mitigation banks are required to place a perpetual conservation easement on the the restored land that permanently protects it from ever being destroyed.  

The wetland mitigation bank on Red Stone Farm consists of 480 acres of old farmland, forest, and current wetlands that are being restored on Drausin Wulsin’s property in Pike County, Ohio.  Mr. Wulsin is a former trustee of Berea College and currently manages his family’s 1,100 acre farm which also hosts an organic dairy and herds of grass fed cows and sheep for meat production.  At the present time, the bank consists of 196 contiguous acres of wetlands and buffer zones that include emergent wetlands, forested wetlands, and upland forests.  This progress represents Phase I of the restoration.  The remaining acreage will be restored in two more phases at a later date and may be expanded to include stream restoration along with the current ecosystems.  During our time with Mr. Wulsin and the bank manager Dr. Barry Dalton we toured the various wetland ecosystems to better understand the process of restoration on a mitigation bank and how this particular bank functions.

Phase I involved removing beaver dams that had trapped water into a small lake and flattening the land so that it could not be blocked and flooded again.  The area had spent several years under water, which had killed off the trees that had been growing there.  These dead trees are now part of the emergent wetland and provide useful habitats for many species of birds.  This first phase also involved planting 19,500 wetland trees by hand and spreading 500 lbs of native rush, grass, and wildflower seeds.  Currently the wetlands being monitored and invasive species are being removed.  This will continue for a 10 year period, after which the wetland will be allowed to sustain itself without interference.  The area also includes a piece of existing forested wetland that serves as a comparison plot and is a Category 3 wetland.  The EPA classifies wetlands into three different categories depending on their quality.  The scale goes from 1 - low quality- to 3 - highest quality, making this plot a valuable resource and a goal for the newly restored forested wetlands.

Touring a mature forested wetland
at the mitigation bank. 

Despite having a closed
canopy, the forested
wetland still supports sedges
and rushes in the under-story

The soil in a forested wetland
is mostly anaerobic, giving it
the bluish tinge.

The mitigation bank can sell credits to entities requiring Category 1 wetland restoration within the Huntington Corps District, which occupies most of southern Ohio, and Category 2 wetland restoration within the watershed of the lower Scioto River, Paint Creek, Ohio Brush Creek, and East Little Miami River watersheds.  Although it was previously believed that the bank would never be able to sell Category 3 credits, the effectiveness of the restoration efforts has made this a future possibility.  

The operation of a wetland mitigation bank can be a profitable endeavor; each acre of restored wetland can be sold for as much as $60,000 and stream mitigation can be sold for $300-$400 per linear foot.  However, the start-up costs for such a project can be very steep.  The Army Corps of Engineers allows 30% of the credits to be sold in advance to help cover costs, but this is dependent on there being an existing market for the credits.  The bank at Red Stone Farm has been in progress for nearly 15 years and, according to Mr, Wulsin, is only starting to become profitable.  Our time at Red Stone Farm has provided us with valuable insight into the way that government agencies, regulations, and economics all play an important role in the restoration process.  Mr, Wulsin’s operation successfully blends sustainable agriculture and wetland mitigation into a model that works with the existing ecosystem, is economically feasible, and provides a valuable service. 

More information on the Red Stone Farm can be found at http://redstonefarm.org/index.html.

Red Stone Farm's cattle herd are grassfed
and solar powered. Over time, they will
build better and deeper soil on the land.

Guiding a lost calf to its mother.

Jordan Engel loves lambs!