Washington Administrative Code › Title 173 - Ecology, Department of (See also Titles 197, 317, 372, and 508) › Chapter 173-700 - Wetland mitigation banks › Part I - OVERVIEW › Section 173-700-104 - Definitions

Current through Register Vol. 24-14, July 15, 2024
"Adaptive management activities"
means actions
				  taken by the bank sponsor on their own to correct any deficiencies on the site
				  in order for the site to attain the required performance standards. The
				  adaptive management activities shall be identified in the mitigation banking
				  instrument.
"Agricultural lands of long-term commercial
				  significance"
or
"ALLCS"
means land primarily devoted to
				  the commercial production of horticultural, viticultural, floricultural, dairy,
				  apiary, vegetable, or animal products or of berries, grain, hay, straw, turf,
				  seed, Christmas trees not subject to the excise tax imposed by RCW 84.33.100
				  through 
										84.33.140, finfish in upland
				  hatcheries, or livestock, and that has long-term commercial significance for
				  agricultural production. Long-term commercial significance includes the growing
				  capacity, productivity, and soil composition of the land for long-term
				  commercial production, in consideration with the land's proximity to population
				  areas, and the possibility of more intense uses of the land.
"Aquatic resources"
means those areas where the
				  presence and movement of water is a dominant process affecting their
				  development, structure, and functioning. Aquatic resources may include, but are
				  not limited to, vegetated and nonvegetated wetlands or aquatic sites (e.g.,
				  mudflats, deepwater habitats, lakes, and streams).
"As-built plans"
means a document which
				  describes the physical, biological, and, if required, the chemical condition of
				  a bank site after complete construction of each phase of an approved
				  construction plan. As-built plans serve as a baseline from which to manage and
				  monitor the site.
"Available credits"
means a potential credit
				  that has been released by the department after a bank attains the performance
				  standards specified in the instrument.
"Bank"
or
"wetland mitigation bank"
means a site where wetlands are restored, created, enhanced, or in exceptional
				  circumstances, preserved, expressly for the purpose of providing compensatory
				  mitigation in advance of unavoidable impacts to wetlands or other aquatic
				  resources that typically are unknown at the time of certification.
"Bank sponsor"
or
"sponsor"
means
				  any public or private entity responsible for establishing and, in most
				  circumstances, operating a bank.
"Buffer"
means those areas on the perimeter of a
				  bank site that enhance and protect a wetland's functions and values by
				  maintaining adjacent habitat and reducing adverse impacts from adjacent land
				  uses. These areas are vegetated and can reduce impacts through various
				  physical, chemical, and/or biological processes.
"Compensatory mitigation"
means the restoration,
				  creation, enhancement, or in exceptional circumstances, the preservation of
				  wetlands or other aquatic resources for the purpose of compensating for
				  unavoidable impacts to wetlands or other aquatic resources which remain after
				  all appropriate and practicable avoidance and minimization have been
				  achieved.
"Consensus"
means a process by which a group
				  synthesizes its ideas and concerns to form a common collaborative agreement
				  acceptable to all members.
"Cowardin class"
means the classification of a
				  wetland area as described in
Classification of Wetlands and Deepwater
				  Habitats of the United States
USFWS publication FWS/OBS 79/31.
"Creation"
means the establishment of wetland
				  area, functions, and values in an area where none previously existed. Creation
				  may also be known as establishment.
"Credit"
means a unit of trade representing the
				  increase in the ecological value of the bank site, as measured by acreage,
				  functions, or by some other assessment method.
"Cultural resources"
means sites, structures,
				  buildings, districts, lands, landscapes, and objects that have historical,
				  archaeological, and traditional cultural significance. Cultural resources are
				  the tangible and material evidence of the human past.
"Days"
means calendar days.
"Debited credit"
means:
(1) An available credit that has been
				withdrawn from the bank to meet regulatory requirements.
(2) A reserved credit that has been used to
				meet a regulatory requirement.
"Debit project"
means those projects that use
				  credits from a bank to fulfill regulatory requirements for compensation of
				  impacts. These projects may require more than one regulatory approval under
				  federal, state, and local rules.
"Department"
means the department of
				  ecology.
"Enhancement"
means the manipulation of the
				  physical, chemical, or biological characteristics of an aquatic resource to
				  heighten, intensify, or improve a specific aquatic resource function(s).
				  Enhancement results in the gain of selected aquatic resource function(s), but
				  may also lead to a decline in other aquatic resource function(s). Enhancement
				  does not result in a gain in aquatic resource area.
"Financial assurance"
means the money or other
				  form of financial instrument (e.g., surety bonds, trust funds, escrow accounts,
				  proof of stable revenue sources for public agencies) required of the sponsor to
				  ensure that the functions of the bank are achieved and maintained over the long
				  term.
"Function assessment"
means an evaluation of the
				  degree to which a wetland is performing, or is capable of performing, specific
				  wetland functions and processes. Function assessments include the use of
				  scientifically based quantitative and qualitative methods developed for
				  assessing functions, as well as the use of best professional judgment.
"Hydrogeomorphic classification"
or
"HGM
				  class"
means a wetland classification scheme that groups wetlands based
				  on their location in the landscape and water regime.
"Indian Country"
means:
(1) All land within the limits of any Indian
				reservation under the jurisdiction of the United States Government,
				notwithstanding the issuance of any patent, and, including rights of way
				running through the reservation;
(2) All dependent Indian communities within
				the borders of the United States whether within the original or subsequently
				acquired territory thereof, and whether within or without the limits of a
				state; and
(3) All Indian
				allotments, the Indian titles to which have not been extinguished, including
				rights of way running through the same.
"Instrument"
or
"mitigation banking
				  instrument"
means the documentation of agency and sponsor concurrence on
				  the objectives and administration of the bank. The mitigation banking
				  instrument describes in detail the physical and legal characteristics of the
				  bank, including the service area, and how the bank will be established and
				  operated.
"Interagency review team"
or
"IRT"
means an interagency group of federal, state, tribal, and local regulatory and
				  resource agency representatives who are invited to participate in negotiations
				  with the sponsor on the terms and conditions of the instrument.
"Local jurisdiction"
means any local government
				  such as a town, city, or county in which the bank site is located.
"Maintenance"
includes all activities and
				  actions necessary to ensure the successful development of a bank.
"Mitigation sequencing"
means sequentially
				  avoiding impacts, minimizing impacts, and compensating for remaining
				  unavoidable impacts to wetlands or other aquatic resources.
"Operational life"
or
"operational life of
				  a bank"
means the period during which the terms and conditions of the
				  instrument are in effect. With the exception of arrangements for the long-term
				  management, permanent protection, and financial assurances, the operational
				  life of a mitigation bank terminates at the point when:
(1) Available credits have been exhausted and
				the bank is determined to be functionally mature and self-sustaining to the
				degree specified in the instrument; or
(2) The sponsor voluntarily terminates the
				banking activity with written notice to the department.
"Performance standards"
are measurable criteria
				  for determining if the project goals and objectives are being achieved.
				  Performance standards document a desired state, or amount of change necessary
				  to indicate that a particular function is being performed or structure has been
				  established as specified in the design.
"Potential credit"
means a credit anticipated to
				  be generated by the bank, but is not currently available for use.
"Practicable"
means available and capable of
				  being done after taking into consideration cost, existing technology, and
				  logistics in light of overall project purposes.
"Preservation"
means the permanent protection of
				  ecologically important wetlands or other aquatic resources through the
				  implementation of appropriate legal and physical mechanisms. Preservation may
				  include protection of upland areas adjacent to wetlands as necessary to ensure
				  protection or enhancement of the aquatic systems, or both. Preservation does
				  not result in a gain of aquatic resource area or functions.
"Prime farmland soils"
means land that has the
				  best combination of physical and chemical characteristics for producing food,
				  feed, forage, fiber, and oilseed crops and is also available for these uses. It
				  has the soil quality, growing season, and moisture supply needed to produce
				  economically sustained high yields of crops when treated and managed according
				  to acceptable farming methods, including water management. In general, prime
				  farmlands have an adequate and dependable water supply from precipitation or
				  irrigation, a favorable temperature and growing season, acceptable acidity or
				  alkalinity, acceptable salt and sodium content, and few or no rocks. They are
				  permeable to water and air. Prime farmlands are not excessively erodible or
				  saturated with water for a long period of time, and they either do not flood
				  frequently or are protected from flooding.
"Prospectus"
is the conceptual proposal for a
				  bank project.
"Reestablishment"
means the manipulation of the
				  physical, chemical, or biological characteristics of a site with the goal of
				  returning natural/historic functions to a former aquatic resource.
				  Reestablishment results in rebuilding a former aquatic resource and results in
				  a gain in aquatic resource area and functions. Reestablishment falls under the
				  broader term of restoration.
"Rehabilitation"
means the manipulation of the
				  physical, chemical, or biological characteristics of a site with the goal of
				  repairing natural/historic functions to a degraded aquatic resource.
				  Rehabilitation results in a gain in aquatic resource function, but does not
				  result in a gain in aquatic resource area.
"Remedial actions"
means actions required by the
				  department to correct any deficiencies on the site in order for the site to
				  attain the required performance standards. Remedial actions may be required by
				  the department to gain compliance by the sponsor with this chapter.
"Reserved credit"
means an available credit that
				  has been withdrawn from the bank but which is not associated with a specific
				  regulatory requirement at the time of purchase. Purchase of reserved credits
				  does not provide any guarantee that a project will be authorized under existing
				  regulatory programs. Reserved credits are purchased at the buyer's sole
				  risk.
"Restoration"
is a broad term referring to both
				  reestablishment and rehabilitation.
"Service area"
means the designated geographic
				  area in which a bank can reasonably be expected to provide appropriate
				  compensation for unavoidable impacts.
"Signatories"
means those entities that have
				  documented their concurrence with the terms and conditions of the instrument
				  through their signature on the document.
"Sustainability"
means the ability of a bank to
				  persist in the landscape and maintain its functions in anticipation of future
				  development needs within the watershed. Sustainable bank sites must have
				  sufficient buffer areas to protect the site from degradations due to activities
				  on adjacent lands.
"Unavoidable"
means adverse impacts that remain
				  after all appropriate and practicable avoidance and minimization have been
				  achieved.
"Urban areas"
means areas located within a
				  designated urban growth area.
"Water resource inventory areas"
or
"WRIA"
refers to Washington state's sixty-two major watershed
				  basins as described in chapter 173-500 WAC, water resources management program
				  established pursuant to the Water Resources Act of 1971, as amended.
"Watershed characterization"
means an approach
				  to identify and map areas within a watershed that are most important to support
				  a watershed process. It identifies the degree of impairment to these areas, and
				  identifies areas most important for protection and restoration.
"Watershed processes"
means the dynamic physical
				  and chemical interactions that form and maintain the landscape and ecosystems
				  on a geographic scale of watersheds to basins (hundreds to thousands of square
				  miles). The most important factors include the movement of water, sediment,
				  nutrients, pathogens, toxic compounds, and wood.
"Watershed-based approach to mitigation"
means
				  an analytical process for making compensatory mitigation decisions that support
				  the sustainability or improvement of aquatic resources in a watershed. It
				  involves consideration of watershed needs, and how locations and types of
				  compensatory mitigation projects address those needs. A landscape perspective
				  is used to identify the types and locations of compensatory mitigation projects
				  that will benefit the watershed and offset losses of aquatic resource functions
				  and services caused by authorized activities. The watershed approach may
				  involve consideration of landscape scale, historic, and potential aquatic
				  resource conditions, past and projected aquatic resource impacts in the
				  watershed, and terrestrial connections between aquatic resources when
				  determining compensatory mitigation requirements.
"Wetland(s)"
means areas that are inundated or
				  saturated by surface water or groundwater at a frequency and duration
				  sufficient to support, and that under normal circumstances do support, a
				  prevalence of vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated soil
				  conditions. Wetlands generally include swamps, marshes, bogs, and similar
				  areas.