This notice is issued in accordance with the Compensatory Mitigation for Losses of Aquatic Resources; Final Rule (the Mitigation Rule) described in the Federal Register dated April 10, 2008 (33 CFR Parts 325 and 332).
1. Sponsor. WFI Holdings, LLC, 248 Southwoods Center, Columbia, Illinois, 62236.
2. Project Location. Section 22, Township 18 North, Range 2 East, Rock Island County, Illinois. UTM NAD-83 Zone 15, Latitude 41.53908821 Longitude -90.2502346, located within the Zuma Creek Rock River Watershed.
3. Bank Objectives: The fundamental objective of compensatory mitigation is to offset environmental losses resulting from unavoidable impacts to waters of the United States (WOTUS), authorized by Department of Army Permits. Other Objectives include: increase habitat for wildlife; increase bottomland hardwood diversity, quality and hard mast tree dominance; reduce forest fragmentation for “area sensitive” neo-tropical species; maintain and enhance the wetland hydroperiod to increase wetland functions and values; reduce nutrient loading and increase nitrate fixation; restore, enhance and preserve a forested habitat adjacent to Zuma Creek and its tributaries that are connected to the flood pulse of the Lower Rock River; restore woody and herbaceous vegetation to create a continuum of plant species, and provide an appropriate form of wetland compensation where no feasible on-site mitigation opportunity exists.
4. Project Description. The sponsor proposes to establish the Zuma Woods Wetland Mitigation Bank to generate approximately approximately 89 forested wetland and 14 emergent wetland credits for use by the regulated public to mitigate for unavoidable wetland impacts within the service area of the bank. The proposed service area encompasses the following watersheds: Apple-Plum (HUC 07060005), Cooperas-Duck (HUC 07080101), Upper Rock (HUC 07090001), Pecatonica (HUC 07090003), Sugar (HUC 07090004), Lower Rock (HUC 07090005), and Kishwaukee (HUC 07090006) which lie within the boundaries of the Rock Island District. The existing site attributes lend themselves to the establishment of hardwood
forest and emergent wetland within the Rock River floodway. The mitigation bank will be utilized in the future, when appropriate, to compensate for unavoidable aquatic impacts by future projects through the purchase of credits from the bank sponsor, WFI Holdings, LLC. The property has been utilized for agricultural purposes over the last 30+ years. A wetland delination was completed August of 2022. One emergent wetland and two farmed wetlands were identified in the proposed bank area.
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