Mitigation Banks

The roots of mitigation banking date back to the 1960s with the origination of the environmental movement. During the 1970s, several federal laws were implemented such as the Clean Air Act of 1970, the Clean Water Act of 1972, the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972 and the Endangered Species Act of 1973. In 1988, President George Bush announced a Domestic Policy Council calling for “no net loss” of wetlands. Later, President Clinton endorsed this policy claiming mitigation banks as a viable option for compensating for wetland impacts. A federal guidance implementing the Clinton Administration’s Wetland Plan was published outlining the strict procedures and policies ensuring that wetland functions and values are preserved and defined mitigation banking as the process of preserving, enhancing, restoring or creating habitat to compensate for unavoidable wetland impacts.

Newkirk Environmental was the first corporation to privately own a mitigation bank in the state of South Carolina. Currently, Newkirk Environmental Inc. manages four mitigation banks in South Carolina and Georgia providing freshwater and saltwater impact mitigation. These banks provide replacement functions and values, expressed as credits, for permitted impacts within each bank’s service area. Each bank's service area is determined during the early permitting stages and generally reflects the drainage or watershed basin where the bank is located.

To learn more about mitigation banking in general, click here or visit the individual mitigation bank sections listed below.

Mitigation Bank 1 - Vandross Bay (SC) Mitigation Bank 2 - Pigeon Pond (SC) Mitigation Bank 3 - Old Thorn Pond (SC) Mitigation Bank 4 - Magnolia Swamp (GA) Mitigation Bank 5 - Sweetleaf Swamp (SC)