Mitigation Banks

Vandross Bay Mitigation Bank

The Vandross Bay Mitigation Bank is a 450-acre property in Georgetown County, South Carolina 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 Vandross Bay Mitigation Bank is available to provide compensatory mitigation within the identified service areas (Service Area Map), on a fee basis, for any authorized impacts to state or federal jurisdictional freshwater isolated or above the headwaters wetlands. Additionally, the mitigation bank is available to mitigate for other authorized impacts on a case-by-case basis.

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 Charleston District Corps of Engineers Standard Operating Procedure for Compensatory Mitigation Plans.

The Vandross Bay Mitigation Bank was authorized October 27, 1994, by issuance of a Department of the Army Permit. The bank was originally approved for approximately 800 acres. This portion of the bank closed January 18, 2001, when the last available credits were sold and the final monitoring of areas in the bank was completed. This tract is now preserved under a conservation easement and managed for wildlife, recreation, and education/research.

Authorization to expand the area of the original bank was granted and approximately 341 acres of land adjacent to the existing bank were added and approved for use.

The Vandross Bay Mitigation Bank is a Carolina Bay complex located in Georgetown County near Yauhannah, South Carolina. The site is located southwest of the intersection of Pee Dee Road and Carvers Bay Road and in close proximity to the USFWS Winyah Focus Area.

The existing Carolina Bay complex is typical of these unique habitats scattered throughout the Coastal Plain. A distinct sand ridge defines the bays and their elliptical configurations. The bays are vegetatively dominated by a dense midstory that includes fetterbush (Lyonia lucida), sweet pepperbush (Clethra acuminata), and smilax (Smilax auriculata). The overstory and sapling layer include loblolly-bay (Gordonia lasianthus), sweet bay (Magnolia virginiana), red bay (Persia borbonia), tupelo (Nyssa aquatica), pond pine (Pinus serotina), loblolly pine (Pinus taeda), cypress (Taxodium distichum), and red maple (Acer rubrum).

Through the restoration efforts of the mitigation bank, natural characteristics and values have been restored. These include:

• Restoration and Enhancement of Hydrology - Natural hydrologic regimes have been or will be restored and/or enhanced within wetlands that have been impacted by silviculture practices including ditching and conversion to pine plantation.
  
  
• Restoration of Indigenous Vegetation - Wetland areas of the site that have been impacted by historic silviculture activities (i.e. converted to pine plantation) have been or will be restored to the vegetative community indigenous to this unique wetland system.
  
  
• Preservation and Buffers - The entire mitigation bank site has been preserved in perpetuity, in an essentially natural, undisturbed state.

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

Southern Land & Mitigation Company
c/o Newkirk Environmental, Inc.
P.O. Box 746
Mt. Pleasant, SC 29465

843/388-6585
FAX 843/388-6580