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).
Project Location: The proposed site is located within Section 27, Township 23 North, Range 11East, Pine Rock Township, Ogle County, Illinois.
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: support the national goal of nonet-loss of wetlands, enhance existing and create additional wildlife habitat; compensate for wetland and stream losses in a manner which contributes to the long-term ecological functioning of the watershed within which the Bank is located, reduce temporal losses of wetland and stream functions, restore ecological connectivity along the Kyte River riparian corridor, and improving water quality in the Rock River watershed and service area of the bank.
Project Description/Bank Establishment: The bank sponsor proposes to complete activities on 83.89-acres of privately owned property that would result in the establishment of both stream and wetland mitigation credits. The primary goal of this project is to restore and enhance areas of wetland and two sections of streams within the identified parcel. Wetland restoration and enhancement would result in approximately 39.7-acres of forested wetland, 23.24-acres of sedge meadow, and 0.93-acres of emergent wetland along with 6.89-acres of wetland buffer. In-stream benefits will include approximately 300-feet of the Kyte River and 825-feet of an unnamed perennial tributary to the Kyte River along with 4,062-feet of riparian buffer improvements between the two streams. In order to restore and enhance areas of wetland within the project, the Bank sponsor proposes to locate and disable drain tile, selectively remove berms, and to plug and/or fill drainage ditches within the property. Selective grading will also be completed and will include shallow scrapes in irregular patterns to increase wetland suitability and complexity. The Bank sponsor proposes to use many different in-stream methods to aid in restoring the portions of stream, including selective realignments to promote riffle-pool development, raising the stream bed to restore floodplain connectivity, removing existing concrete bank armoring, and stabilizing selected meander bends with rootwad-stone toe protection. Stream bank grading will also be used to create slopes allowing the establishment of native vegetation, as well as to promote overbanking events to support wetland restoration efforts. Improvement and establishment of the riparian and wetland buffers will include a detailed planting and seeding plan, as well as vegetation management to remove invasive species and promote native species diversity. This project will generate approximately 22.18 emergent wetland mitigation credits, 37.29 forested wetland mitigation credits, and 11,983 stream mitigation credits.
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