Water Resources Research Act Program

Details for Project ID 2017IL331B

Evaluating the ability of wetland mitigation banks in the Chicago region to replace plant species lost to impacts to natural wetlands

Institute: Illinois
Year Established: 2017 Start Date: 2017-03-01 End Date: 2018-02-28
Total Federal Funds: $4,668 Total Non-Federal Funds: $9,487

Principal Investigators: Jeffery Matthews

Project Summary: The proposed study will have two primary results. First, we will evaluate the ability of wetland mitigation banks to replace plant species that are lost when permitted impacts occur to natural wetlands and aquatic resources. This will include an assessment of the percentage of impacted plant species that are replaced by banks, and comparisons between the impacted species that banks replace, and those that are not replaced. Second, this study will determine how specific changes to mitigation policies affect the replacement of impacted species by banks, in order to generate recommendations for changes to wetland mitigation policy that will improve compensation for lost aquatic resources by wetland mitigation banks.