Michigan Administrative Code › Department - Environmental Quality › Water Resources Division › Wetland Mitigation Banking › Section R. 281.951 - Mitigation banking definitions

Current through Vol. 24-12, July 15, 2024
Rule 1. As used in the wetland mitigation banking
				  rules:
(a) "Act" means Act No. 451 of
				the Public Acts of 1994, as amended, being §324.101 et seq. of the
				Michigan Compiled Laws.
(b) "Bank
				sponsor" means a person who independently or in cooperation with another person
				is responsible for the establishment, operation, and long-term management of a
				wetland mitigation bank.
(c)
				"Ecoregion" means a geographic region of relatively homogenous ecological
				systems. For the purposes of the wetland mitigation banking rules, the mapped
				sub-subsections found in the publication entitled "Regional Landscape
				Ecosystems of Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin," Dennis A. Albert, 1994,
				north central forest experiment station, United States department of
				agriculture, shall be used to identify ecoregion boundaries.
(d) "Department" means the department of
				environmental quality.
(e) "In-kind
				mitigation" means replacement of unavoidably lost wetland resources with
				created, restored, or, in exceptional circumstances, preserved wetlands of a
				similar physical/biological type, with the goal of replacing as fully as
				possible the functions of the lost wetland.
(f) "Mitigation bank" means a site where
				wetlands are restored, created, or, in exceptional circumstances, preserved
				expressly for the purpose of providing compensatory mitigation in accordance
				with the provisions of the act in advance of authorized, unavoidable impacts to
				wetlands.
(g) "Mitigation banking"
				means the process of restoring or creating self-sustaining functioning
				wetlands, or, in exceptional circumstances, preserving high-quality and
				threatened wetlands, as prior replacement for wetlands that are expected to be
				unavoidably impacted by development within a watershed or ecoregion.
(h) "Mitigation banking agreement" means a
				formal written agreement between the bank sponsor and the department of
				environmental quality that identifies all relevant establishment, operation,
				and management considerations of a wetland mitigation bank.
(i) "Mitigation credit" means a unit of value
				generally equivalent to 1 acre of created or restored functioning wetland that
				may be bought and sold on the open market.
(j) "Out-of-kind mitigation" means the
				replacement of unavoidably lost wetland resources with created, restored, or,
				in exceptional circumstances, preserved wetlands that are physically or
				biologically different than the wetlands that were lost. Out-of-kind mitigation
				may result in the replacement of different wetland functions than the functions
				that were lost.
(k) "Service area"
				means an area in which a bank can reasonably be expected to provide appropriate
				compensatory mitigation for impacts to wetlands. The service area will be
				defined on a watershed or ecoregion basis.
(l) "Unavoidably lost" means a wetland impact
				which has been approved by the department in accordance with permit review
				criteria specified by the act.
(m)
				"Watershed" means a drainage area within which the replacement of certain
				wetland functions, including hydrologic, water quality, and aquatic habitat
				functions, may be authorized by the use of a mitigation bank. Mitigation bank
				watersheds are illustrated in figure 1 in R 281.961.
(n) "Wetland creation" means the physical and
				biological establishment of a wetland where a wetland did not formerly
				exist.
(o) "Wetland function" means
				the physical, chemical, or biological processes which provide benefits to the
				public and which are recognized by the Michigan legislature in section
				30302(1)(b) of the act.
(p)
				"Wetland preservation" means the protection of an ecologically critical wetland
				in perpetuity through the implementation of appropriate legal and physical
				mechanisms.
(q) "Wetland
				restoration" means the reestablishment of wetland characteristics and functions
				at a site where they have ceased to exist through the replacement of wetland
				hydrology, vegetation, or soils.