Wisconsin Administrative Code › Department of Natural Resources › NR 300-399 - Environmental Protection - Water Regulation › Chapter NR 350 - Wetland Compensatory Mitigation › Section NR 350.003 - Definitions

Current through June 24, 2024
In this chapter:
(1) "As-built report" means a document
				summarizing the completed construction activities on a mitigation bank site,
				including any changes to the construction plan that occurred.
(2) "Bank service area" or "service area"
				means the geographic area corresponding to a HUC 6 watershed within which
				impacts to a wetland from a discharge can be mitigated at a specific mitigation
				bank or an in-lieu fee program as determined in an agreement between the
				department and the U.S. army corps of engineers and referenced in a mitigation
				bank or in-lieu fee program instrument.
Note:
The terms "bank service area" and "service
				  area" refer to the same watersheds as described in an agreement between the
				  department and the United States army corps of engineers that adopts guidelines
				  for wetland compensatory mitigation in Wisconsin. There are 12 service areas
				  that correspond to HUC 6 watersheds, except for the Wisconsin River HUC 6,
				  which is split into "Upper Wisconsin" and "Lower Wisconsin," and portions of
				  several HUC 6 watersheds adjacent to Lake Superior are combined and referred to
				  as "Lake Superior."
(3)
				"Basin" means the Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, or Mississippi River
				basin.
(4) "Compensation" or
				"compensatory mitigation" means the restoration, enhancement, creation, or
				preservation of wetlands expressly for the purpose of compensating for
				unavoidable adverse impacts that remain after all appropriate and practicable
				avoidance and minimization has been achieved.
(5) "Compensation search area" means the
				geographic areas within which impacts to a wetland from a discharge can be
				mitigated at a specific mitigation bank, including, in order, the HUC 8
				watershed, the service area, and basin as the search is conducted.
(6) "Compensation site plan" means a
				comprehensive document prepared by an applicant or mitigation sponsor that
				provides a description of baseline conditions, restoration activities and
				design, and desired outcomes of a proposed wetland mitigation project, is
				approved by the department as part of a mitigation bank instrument,
				permittee-responsible mitigation project, or non-department in-lieu fee program
				instrument modification, and is synonymous with the mitigation plan described
				in the Federal Mitigation Rule (33 CFR
				332.4(c)) .
(7) "Corrective action" means an action taken
				by a mitigation sponsor to correct deficiencies in a wetland mitigation project
				as early as possible after the problem is noticed.
(8) "Creation" means the manipulation of the
				physical, chemical, or biological characteristics present to develop an aquatic
				resource that did not previously exist at an upland site that results in a gain
				in wetland resource area and functions.
(9) "Credit" means a unit of measure
				representing the attainment of wetland function earned over a finite area at a
				mitigation bank or ILF project.
(10) "Credit ratio" means a multiplier used
				to determine the amount of wetland function over a finite area that requires
				mitigation due to wetland impacts as a result of an exempt or permitted project
				and used to determine the amount of wetland function over a finite area that is
				gained by mitigation activities on a mitigation project.
(11) "Debit" means a unit of credit that is
				withdrawn from a mitigation project upon approval of a credit sale or upon
				approval of credits used by mitigation sponsors to fulfill mitigation
				requirements on their own exempt or permitted projects.
(12) "Degraded wetland" means a wetland
				subjected to deleterious activities, such as drainage, grazing, cultivation,
				increased stormwater input, or partial filling, to the extent that natural
				wetland characteristics are severely compromised and wetland function is
				substantially reduced.
(13)
				"Department" means the Wisconsin department of natural resources.
(14) "Direct impacts" means adverse impacts
				to wetlands that occur immediately as the result of a permitted or exempt
				activity and that result in the loss of wetland function and area.
(15) "Enhancement" means the manipulation of
				physical, chemical, or biological characteristics of an existing wetland
				resource to heighten, intensify, or improve a specific wetland function that
				results in the gain of that targeted wetland function but may also lead to a
				decline in other wetland function and does not result in a gain in wetland
				resource area.
(16) "Exempt project
				proponent" means an entity or individual that discharges dredged or fill
				material into wetlands but is exempt from permit requirements pursuant to s.
				281.36(4),
				(4m), and (4n), Stats.
(17) "Functional values" or "wetland
				function" means one or more of the following ecological or cultural services
				that wetlands provide, including storm and flood water storage and retention;
				hydrologic functions; filtration or storage of sediments, nutrients, or toxic
				substances; shoreline protection against erosion; habitat for aquatic
				organisms; habitat for resident and transient wildlife species; and
				recreational, cultural, educational, scientific, and natural scenic
				values.
(18) "HUC 6" means a
				watershed delineated by the U.S. geological survey using a nationwide system
				based on surface hydrologic features at the 6-digit basin scale (the hydrologic
				unit code 6).
(19) "HUC 8" means a
				watershed delineated by the U.S. geological survey using a nationwide system
				based on surface hydrologic features at the 8-digit sub-basin scale (the
				hydrologic unit code 8).
(20)
				"In-lieu fee program" means a mitigation subprogram established by the
				department under s.
				281.36(3r)
				(e), Stats., or sponsored by a government or
				nonprofit entity that sells advanced or released mitigation credits to
				permittees or exempt project proponents to satisfy their mitigation
				requirements and uses funds from the sale of credits for restoration,
				enhancement, creation, or preservation of wetlands.
(21) "Interagency review team" means the
				group of federal, tribal, state, and/or local regulatory agencies that
				facilitate the establishment of wetland mitigation banks and in-lieu fee
				programs through review and oversight of project development and operation.
Note:
As described in
				  33 CFR
				  332.8(b), the U.S. army
				  corps of engineers is the interagency review team Chair and other federal,
				  tribal, state, and/or local regulatory agencies may participate with authority
				  from the U.S. army corps of engineers, and as appropriate to review specific
				  mitigation sites. The U.S. army corps of engineers seeks to include all public
				  agencies with a substantive interest in the establishment of a mitigation bank
				  or in-lieu fee program on the interagency review team. The department may
				  participate on the interagency review team for mitigation banks and any
				  non-department in-lieu fee programs at the discretion of the U.S. army corps of
				  engineers. Members of the interagency review team review prospectuses,
				  compensation site plans, mitigation bank instruments, construction as-built
				  reports, monitoring reports, credit release requests, mitigation bank
				  instrument modification requests, and other documents as needed and provide
				  comments to the U.S. army corps of engineers. The U.S. army corps of engineers
				  will give full consideration of any timely comments from other members but
				  retains final authority for instrument approval for a mitigation bank or
				  in-lieu fee program that is used to satisfy compensatory mitigation for federal
				  wetland permits.
(22)
				"Mitigation" means the restoration, enhancement, creation, or preservation of
				wetlands to compensate for adverse impacts to other wetlands.
(23) "Mitigation bank" means a system of
				accounting for wetland loss and compensation that includes one or more sites
				where wetlands are restored, enhanced, created, or preserved to provide credits
				to be subsequently applied or purchased in order to compensate for adverse
				impacts to other wetlands.
(24)
				"Mitigation bank instrument" means a legal document governing the establishment
				and operation of a mitigation bank, which includes the compensation site plan,
				financial and mitigation credit provisions, site ownership and legal
				protection, and long-term management plans.
(25) "Mitigation project" or "mitigation
				site" means a wetland restoration, enhancement, creation, or preservation site
				that is developed with the intention of selling credits to permittees or exempt
				applicants in need of mitigation or a site developed by a permittee or exempt
				applicant to fulfill their mitigation requirements.
(26) "Mitigation sponsor" or "sponsor" means
				any public or private individual or entity responsible for establishing and
				operating a mitigation bank, in-lieu fee program, or permittee-responsible
				mitigation project.
(27)
				"Monitoring plan" means a narrative describing the data collection, analysis,
				and reporting requirements for documenting the change in wetland function on
				mitigation sites in a compensation site plan approved by the
				department.
(28) "Nonfederal
				wetland" means a wetland that is not subject to federal jurisdiction under
				33 USC
				1344.
(29) "On-site" means a mitigation project
				located within one-half mile of the impacted wetland.
(30) "Performance standards" are observable
				or measurable physical, including hydrological, chemical, and/or biological
				attributes that are used to determine if a compensatory mitigation project
				meets its objectives.
(31)
				"Permittee" means an applicant for a wetland general or individual permit under
				s.
				281.36,
				Stats.
(32) "Permittee-responsible
				mitigation project" means a mitigation project developed by a permittee or
				exempt project proponent, or their authorized agent or contractor, to complete
				required mitigation and for which the permittee or exempt project proponent
				retains full legal responsibility.
(33) "Preservation" means removing a threat
				to, or preventing the decline of, ecologically significant or rare or
				high-quality wetlands through long-term site protection that alone does not
				result in a gain of wetland resource area or functions.
(34) "Prospectus" means a preliminary wetland
				mitigation project design prepared by a mitigation sponsor and including
				descriptions of existing site conditions, site ownership and management,
				mitigation goals and objectives, and ecological suitability of the
				project.
(35) "Re-establishment"
				means the manipulation of the physical, chemical, or biological characteristics
				of a site with the goal of returning ecological functions to a former wetland
				resource that results in a gain in wetland resource area and
				function.
(36) "Rehabilitation"
				means the manipulation of the physical, chemical, or biological characteristics
				of a site with the goal of repairing ecological functions to a degraded
				existing wetland resource that results in a gain in wetland resource functions
				but does not result in a gain in wetland resource area.
(37)
(a)
				"Restoration" means the manipulation of the physical, chemical, or biological
				characteristics of a site with the goal of returning ecological functions to a
				former or degraded wetland resource.
(b) "Restoration" includes re-establishment
				and rehabilitation.