SETTING THE SAGE FOR SUCCESS: STRATEGIC SITE SELECTION & DURABLE SITE PROTECTION MECHANISMS

Presented live on November 5, 2020, this webinar provides an overview of regulatory guidance for selecting mitigation sites and the best practices used by bankers to select suitable sites for meeting mitigation requirements. The session also reviews the suite of site protection mechanisms needed to minimize risk and create durable and successful mitigation banks.

It is recommended that participants view Webinar 1: The Market & Regulatory Drivers for Conservation Banking prior to viewing this webinar.

WEBINAR #3 RECORDING

Presenters:

Matt Gause, Westervelt Ecological Services (mgause@westervelt.com)
Valerie Layne, US Army Corps of Engineers Institute for Water Resources (valerie.l.layne@usace.army.mil)
Michelle Mattson, US Army Corps of Engineers Institute for Water Resources (michelle.l.mattson@usace.army.mil)
Deblyn Mead, Bureau of Land Management (dMead@blm.gov)
Clint Miller, The Conservation Fund (cmiller@conservationfund.org)
Jeff Phillips, US Fish & Wildlife Service (jeff_phillips@fws.gov)
Veronica Rowan, DOI Office of the Solicitor (veronica.rowan@sol.doi.gov)

Webinar Materials:

• Speaker Bios (PDF)
• USFWS Site Selection Presentation (PDF)
• USACE Site Selection Presentation (PDF)
• Westervelt Case Study Presentation (PDF)
• USFWS & BLM Site Protection Presentation (PDF)
• Role of Land Trusts in Site Protection Presentation (PDF)

SITE SELECTION RESOURCES:

1. Bean, Kihslinger, Wilkinson. “Design of U.S. Habitat Banking Systems to Support the Conservation of Wildlife Habitat and At-Risk Species” ELI, February 2008. [DOWNLOAD PDF]
2. Kiesecker, et. al. 2009. A Framework for Implementing Biodiversity Offsets: Selecting Sites and Determining Scale. BioScience 59(1):77-84. [DOWNLOAD PDF]
3. USFWS. “Strategic Habitat Conservation Handbook: A Guide to Implementing the Technical Elements of Strategic Habitat Conservation” Version 1.0, Feb. 11, 2008. [DOWNLOAD PDF]
4. USFWS. Strategic Habitat Conservation: Selecting Surrogate Species for Conservation Planning and Design, Fact Sheet, March 2013. [DOWNLOAD PDF]
5. USFWS. “The Right Science in the Right Places: Landscape Conservation Cooperatives” December 2009. [DOWNLOAD PDF]
6. USFWS, et al. “Eco-Logical: An Ecosystem Approach to Developing Infrastructure Projects” April 2006. [DOWNLOAD PDF]
7. Wilkinson, McElfish, Kihslinger, Bendick, McKenney. “The Next Generation of Mitigation: Linking Current and Future Mitigation Programs with State Wildlife Action Plans and Other State and Regional Plans” ELI, August 2009. [DOWNLOAD PDF]

Web Resources:

• Land Trust Alliance Accreditation https://www.landtrustalliance.org/topics/accreditation

Site Protection RESOURCES:

1. Johnson, B. S. Five tips to expedite regulatory review of conservation easements. National Wetland Newsletter. Mar-Apr 2016. [DOWNLOAD PDF]
2. O’Donnell, M. K. 2016. What title reveals that the land itself cannot. Savingland. Land Trust Alliance newsletter. Summer 2016: 24-27. [DOWNLOAD PDF]
3. Raffini, Eric. “Mineral rights and banking.” National Wetlands Newsletter. Vol. 34 No. 5, 2012. [DOWNLOAD PDF]
4. Terzi, Gail. “The Lummi Nation wetland and habitat bank: restoring a piece of history.” National Wetlands Newsletter. Vol. 34 No. 6, 2012.  [DOWNLOAD PDF]