Wetland mitigation banking program sees growth

PEORIA, Ill. — A company that believes environmental conservation and economic development can support one another made its first appearance at the Greater Peoria Farm Show.

Representatives of Magnolia Land Partners of Evanston, Illinois, highlighted the Wetland Mitigation Banking Program that it facilitates with USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service.

The “banks” provide agriculture producers a streamlined mitigation option to remain compliant for USDA farm bill programs while maintaining wetlands to support functions and environmental values.

Magnolia is a key partner as a statewide agricultural mitigation banking instrument.

Magnolia’s Nikki Palella, analyst, and Eric Phillips, land development manager, described the program during the Peoria show.

“One side of the program is land enrollment. So, if you’re a farmer and you have a wetland on your property and it’s too big to farm and it’s not economically worth it, then you decide to restore it for conservation purposes, hunting, whatever, then you’d reach out to Magnolia,” Palella explained.

“We would assess the site and place a permanent conservation easement on the wetland restoration area. We pay 100% of the cost associated with restoring the property, and the landowner who’s willing to host it would get a fixed price per acre. You still own the property. You could still hunt in the area and still farm in the area outside the easement.

“Once that bank site is approved with NRCS, the credits are generated. They’re online and we can sell them to other ag producers who have wetlands on their property, but instead of them willing to host restoration, they have a different need and they want to get rid of their wetlands or they already have got rid of them.

“This is for past, present and future wetlands on people’s properties.”

An example is a farmer that already has a wetland and wants to return it to crop production. That farmer can buy credits from Magnolia that are sourced from another wetland restoration site. That one-time transaction transfers liability to Magnolia.

PROGRAM COMPLIANCE

The program allows the farmer to continue to be eligible for USDA programs such as crop insurance.

“It’s quick one-time payment and the credits are essentially traded among ag producers within the same service area in the state,” Palella said.

“Since we’re an environmental mitigation company, we specialize in developing conservation banks across the United States that benefit endangered species critical habitat. We specialize in this super-niche market and that’s why we wanted to apply for this NRCS program because the ecological uplift is a net positive.

“Through this program, a lot of the wetland restoration sites are maybe 10 to 70 acres in size, but the wetlands that are getting mitigated for that have been harmed or have been lost are usually one-half acre on average.

“So, if you think about it, the program is really successful at increasing overall wetland habitat in the state while assisting producers with wetland compliance, swampbuster compliance, highly erodible land compliance, all of that. It’s kind of a win, win, win.”

RESTORATION TEAM

Magnolia also continues its work with landowners beyond the first steps.

“We have a restoration team that would take care of the site for up to the first five years to make sure it’s meeting performance standards and is of certain criteria as set by the NRCS,” Phillips said.

“We then usually set up endowment funds, too, with money set aside for future restoration and then we partner with local land trusts for the long-term stewardship of the site. So, they’re local and they know the landscape and can handle any kind of maintenance that may be needed in the future.

That way, these wetland projects are of a high quality for the future.”

Magnolia has been awarded three USDA NRCS grants so far for the program in Illinois, Indiana and Nebraska.

“We’re the furthest along in Illinois. In the next couple of months we anticipate that we’ll get our fifth bank site approved. So, with five bank sites in central, southern and northern Illinois, we have a ton of credits available,” Palella said.

“So, right now we have enough land enrolled and we’re really trying to connect with ag producers in the state who would benefit from buying credits.

“If you’re looking to regain some land-use flexibility, if you’re having issues with swampbuster compliance, if you’re planning for the future and think you’re going to fill that .2 acre wetland on your property, you should call Magnolia because we can help you with that.”