The Environmental Law Institute, in partnership with the Center for Natural Lands Management and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, developed a training course designed to improve the capacity of local and regional land trusts to manage wetland mitigation sites and meet the requirements of the Clean Water Act §404 program. The course provided interested land trusts with an overview of the §404 Program, the tools to evaluate proposed mitigation projects, and the ability to calculate adequate long-term stewardship needs. The course took place in Atlanta, Georgia in 2006 and Portland, Oregon in 2007.
The training course included the following sessions:
- A primer on §404 of the Clean Water Act and relevant national policy related to compensatory mitigation;
- a detailed review of compensatory mitigation plans;
- an overview of the roles and risks of land trusts becoming involved in mitigation; and
- guidance on how to estimate appropriate stewardship and land management endowments.
ELI also presented on this topic at the LTA Rally 2008:
Presentation: Rebecca Kihslinger
Sherry Teresa. 2006. The Demise of the Environmental Trust, The Katoomba Group’s Ecosystem Marketplace
Background Information:
EPA Wetlands Website
Wetland Regulatory Authority
Wetlands Compensatory Mitigation
Wetlands Protection: Partnering with Land Trusts
Advance Reading
Land Trust Training Manual
Training Information:
Draft Agenda
Relevant Links:
Center for Natural Lands Management
Land Trust Alliance
For additional information contact Rebecca Kihslinger via email at kihslinger@eli.org or Jason DeRosa via email at derosa@eli.org.