Standards That Matter

When implemented over an entire state or U.S. Army Corps of Engineers district, compensatory mitigation programs produce a tension that has unintentionally created distinct trade offs between (1) ecological quality, (2) spatial quality, and (3) temporal quality (BenDor et al. 2008). The current policy practice has been to place great preference on spatial quality via limited geographic service areas, yet the trade offs and comparable concern for ecological quality or temporal quality have been lacking.