WATERWAY AND LOCATION: The project would affect waters of the United States (WOTUS), wetlands, associated with Beaver Creek. The proposed site is located within Section 12, Township 80 North, Range 26 West, Dallas County, Iowa at Latitude 41.749258 and Longitude -93.831644.
EXISTING CONDITIONS: The site consists of undeveloped areas of emergent and forested wetland adjacent to Beaver Creek. Land east of the site is currently used for agricultural production. Beaver Creek is to the south and west followed by undeveloped land. North of the site is a mixture of undeveloped and agricultural land.
PROJECT PURPOSE/BANK OBJECTIVES: The fundamental objective of compensatory mitigation is to offset environmental losses resulting from unavoidable impacts to WOTUS authorized by Department of the Army Permits. Other objectives include restoration and enhancement of wildlife habitat, supporting long-term ecological health and functionality of the Beaver Creek floodplain, and reducing the temporal losses of wetlands within the Upper Des Moines Service Area.
PROJECT DESCRIPTION/BANK ESTABLISHMENT: The bank sponsor proposes to complete activities on 51.97 acres of privately owned property that would result in the enhancement of both emergent and forested wetland mitigation credits. The goal of the bank is to enhance emergent and forested wetlands and upland herbaceous buffer to generate 25.18 total credits (24.44 emergent wetland credits and 0.74 forested wetland credits). Wetland enhancement would include wetland seeding, plug planting in areas with standing water, tree/shrub planting in forested areas, and invasive species management to enhance species diversity. A wetland delineation was completed to help determine current conditions and the determination of credits. Success criteria are required to be met in order to generate credit for the proposed activities. A more detailed project description is located within the Prospectus on the Regulatory In-lieu Fee and Bank Information Tracking System (RIBITS; link provided in “Comments” section, below).
SERVICE AREA: The proposed bank service area will be the Upper Des Moines Service Area in Iowa.
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