Mitigation Banks

Magnolia Swamp Mitigation Bank

The Magnolia Swamp Mitigation Bank is an approximately 3,000-acre property in Crawford County, Georgia that has been authorized through the issuance of a US Army Corps of Engineers permit to operate as a commercial wetlands mitigation bank. The purpose of the Bank is to provide compensatory mitigation for projects or permit applicants where on-site mitigation is not available, adequate, feasible or practicable.

The Magnolia Swamp Mitigation Bank is available to provide compensatory mitigation, on a fee basis, for impacts to streams and wetlands within the identified service area (Service Area Map), which require authorization from the US Army Corps of Engineers under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act.

The mitigation bank is not intended to bypass the normal sequencing requirements of the Section 404 permit review process (i.e.: avoidance, minimization, compensation). Mitigation credits from the Bank can only be utilized for projects or activities that have been properly authorized in accordance with all applicable state and federal laws and regulations.

The ratio of mitigation credits in the Bank required to adequately compensate for wetland impacts will be determined on a site and/or project specific basis in accordance with the Savannah District Corps of Engineers Standard Operating Procedure for Compensatory Mitigation Plans.

Magnolia Swamp Mitigation Bank is located adjacent to the Flint River in Crawford County, north of State Route 96 and approximately eight miles west of Ft. Valley, Georgia. Historically the site appears to have been used for agriculture where cotton and rice were shipped using the Flint River. Relic levee and old agricultural ditches are still located on the site. Based on more recent historical aerial photography and interviews with past management personnel, the site was managed as a source of bottomland hardwood timber production.

The 2,867 acre mitigation bank site is characterized as a red river bottomland hardwood forest dominated by various oak and other climax hardwood species and is listed by the GADNR Heritage Trust Inventory includes as a "Botanically Significant Site in the Flint River Corridor".

Habitats within the 2,867 acre site include naturally regenerating clear cut wetland, recent clear cut areas and mature bottomland hardwood forest, cypress/tupelo dominated sloughs, cypress/tupelo wetland flats.

Through the establishment of the Magnolia Swamp Mitigation Bank and the restoration activities authorized by the banking instrument, the owners will:

• Restore natural hydrologic regimes to 2,141.64 acres of wetlands.
  
  
• Restore indigenous vegetation to stream and wetlands ecosystems.
  
  
• Preserve nearly 3,000 acres of significant habitat in perpetuity including the establishment of buffers along nearly 7 miles of the Flint River.

Additional information and/or assistance in calculating the number of credits needed for mitigation or purchasing credits from Magnolia Swamp Mitigation Bank can be obtained by contacting:

Magnolia Swamp, LLC
c/o Newkirk Environmental, Inc.
P.O. Box 746
Mt. Pleasant, SC 29465

Phone: (843) 388-6585
Fax: (843) 388-6580