Project Location: The proposed site is located within Section 18, Township 80 North, Range 25West, Polk County, Iowa. See attached location maps. Latitude: 41.738955 Longitude: -93.802757.
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 the Army Permits. Other Objectives include the support of the national goal of no net-loss of wetlands, the enhancement of wildlife habitat within the Beaver Creek-Upper Des Moines River watershed, to compensate for wetland losses in a manner which contributes to the long-term ecological functioning of the watershed where the bank is located, the reduction of temporal losses of wetland functions, and to restore and enhance water quality and habitat within the Lamberts Landing property.
Project Description/Bank Establishment:
A. The bank sponsor proposes to complete activities on approximately 79-acres of property owned by MADD, LLC. This project would result in the generation of emergent wetland, forested wetland, and stream compensatory mitigation credits. The goal of this project is to restore 27.07acres of emergent wetland and 4.43-acres of forested wetland, enhance 23.64-acres of existing wetland and 13.56-acres of forested wetland, and establish 9.71-acres of buffer to generate an initial estimate of 52.53 wetland credits and restore 1,652 linear feet of stream to generate an initial estimate of 3,056 stream credits.
B. The bank sponsor proposes to use different construction methods to aid in the completion of this project. It is anticipated that large excavators, bulldozers, dump trucks and scraper implement will be utilized for the excavation and earth moving on site. Excess soil is anticipated to be generated during construction and will be moved outside of the proposed bank site to adjacent upland areas to the north. Hydrologic restoration will include floodplain reconnection, excavation to reduce vertical gap between ground surface and groundwater and removing any drain tile in wetland areas. Stream restoration work is expected to remove previously placed concrete rubble from the stream’s channel and replace the rubble with bioengineered root wad stabilization and live staking along the major outside bends where erosion is currently occurring. Root wads from trees felled on site will be reused for this purpose. In addition, willow and dogwood species will be harvested in early spring while dormant for live staking use at the bank full stream elevation.
C. Improvements to the vegetative community include management to remove and control invasive species while promoting the growth of native species. Specifically, management may include chemical or mechanical removal of invasives and/or the use of periodic prescribed burns. Establishment of native plant communities will focus on herbaceous emergent species within wetland areas and will include interspersed tree planting in forested wetland areas. Buffer areas will be planted with a diverse community of beneficial native vegetation.
D. Additional information on construction techniques, target plant community types, and detailed planting plans will be completed prior to the submission of the draft Mitigation Banking Instrument.
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