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MetroParks ready to sell wetlands credits to area developers

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By Marc Katz, Staff Writer Updated 6:54 AM Wednesday, February 23, 2011

The Great Miami Wetland Mitigation Bank in Sycamore State Park has no teller windows or big locks on huge safes.

It’s an area of 364 acres in Trotwood at the southeastern end of Sycamore State Park and the Larch Tree Golf Course and will allow area developers to purchase credits there from Five Rivers MetroParks if they need to build on other wetland areas in the greater Dayton region.

Five Rivers MetroParks is the first conservation agency in Ohio to own, design and manage a mitigation bank, and this bank is the first of its kind in southwest Ohio.

Less than 40 acres of the land will be devoted to wetlands mitigation while the rest will become a park with new trails. But that should be plenty of available acres, said Vince Messerly, president of the Ohio Wetlands Foundation.

In Ohio, only about 200 acres of wetlands are developed yearly, a fraction of that is in the Miami Valley.

Messerly said each displaced wetland area should be replaced with about 21/2 times as much wetlands area.

“There is no perfect system,” he said. “Short of putting all the wetlands back, or leaving all the wetlands alone, there is no perfect solution.

“Mitigation means trying to offset what you’re doing.”

Because of the Clean Water Act of 1977, developers must restore an impacted wetland in order to receive a building permit.

A mitigation area helps lessen the impact of storms and other natural disasters. Developers trying to rebuild wetlands near their projects often run into problems.

Builders are first asked to try to avoid disturbing wetlands. The second level is to minimize any damage; and the third level is to mitigate. Having builders construct their own wetlands was tried and failed.

“We were finding a lot of projects done by builders didn’t function properly,” Messerly said. “Some of them might not have had enough vegetation. In some cases, they didn’t get built.”

Michael Enright, a MetroParks conservation biologist, agreed.

“Most of the time, suitable sites in the general vicinity (of a new development) aren’t available,” Enright said. “When people try to do that, it’s often not viable long term. They don’t last. They’re surrounded by city and other development.

“What wetland banks do is put a large amount of wetlands protected by a buffer in one place. The developer knows exactly what it’s going to cost and we’ll maintain it forever.”

It cost MetroParks about $1.2 million to buy the wetlands area in Trotwood, which is currently farm land the park service is converting to hiking and walking trails.

The first credits are available for sale this month for about $50,000 an acre with stream credits about $300 per foot.

Enright said he expects MetroParks to make back its purchase price of the land in about 10 years, based on what credits are selling for now. There are two phases to the project.

“It’s all farmland now,” Enright said. “The first thing we’re going to do is plant trees, then some vegetation. Soon, we’ll put in access trails for the public.”

Enright said Montgomery County and parts of surrounding counties have between 5 and 10 acres of wetlands impacted a year by development.

“What this does is gives us a wetlands foundation we can participate in locally,” said Walt Hibner, executive director of the Home Builders Association of Dayton. “We had to buy around the state before. Now, all we need are some home buyers who want to build houses.”

For more information, contact Enright at (937) 277-4109 or at michael .enright@metroparks.org.

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