North Carolina's Wetland Mitigation Program

David H. Schiller
Wetland Mitigation Strategist, North Carolina Department of Transportation
(919) 715-0248

The North Carolina Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) was created and initially funded in 1989 by an increase in the State gasoline tax. Initial funding has been supplemented by passage of two highway construction bond issues. The TIP's goals include: seven major urban loops, upgrading and adding Interstate routes, improving most US routes to four lanes, and paving of all non-paved state and county roads. This ambitious construction and funding program will have unavoidable environmental consequences and impacts to wetlands and streams.

The diversity of South Carolina wetlands includes this mountain bog.

North Carolina's wetlands and streams are highly valued natural resources. Wetland and stream habitat types include mountain bog, Piedmont hardwood forest, mountain hardwood forest, coastal plain hardwood forest, coastal plain savanna, coastal tidal forest, and coastal salt marsh. These biological/geophysical associations assets are distributed throughout the State.

Originally some seven million acres of wetlands existed in North Carolina. Today approximately 4.3 million acres remain - a loss of 39%. Although no actual data on total length of streams that now exist are recorded, estimates range from tens to hundreds of thousands of miles of streams and rivers that are subject to Federal (Section 404, Section 401 of the Clean Water Act) and State environmental regulations. The State of North Carolina and the North Carolina Department of Transportation recognizes the importance of these natural resources, and has set about improving resource stewardship through an aggressive program of resource identification, impact assessment, and environmental restoration and enhancement.

In the North Carolina Department of Transportation highway construction program, wetland and stream impacts due to highway projects are analyzed in three ways:

1. through remote sensing and GIS,
2. estimates based on field predelineation surveys, and
3. jurisdictional delineations and associated mapping.

The most accurate of these methods for determining direct impacts to wetlands has proven to be on-site mapping of jurisdictional boundary delineations at plan scale. The least accurate is remote sensing without followup ground-truthing, although ground truthing (verifying remote sensed data in the field) improves the accuracy of these identifications considerably.

For unavoidable wetland impacts, the compensatory mitigation program consists of three separate project management approaches: In-House, In-Lieu Fee, and Full Delivery. The In-house program depends on heavily on project management and design from the NCDOT Division of Planning and Environment. A list of prequalified, on-call consultants is maintained to augment the efforts of NCDOT staff. These consultants provide general environmental services, in addition to wetlands and stream mitigation activities. The consultants are most often used to locate potential wetland mitigation sites. The In-House program differs from the others in that sites are also researched and obtained directly by NCDOT right-of-way personnel. The In house program also uses some sites volunteered by landowners who are willing to sell their property or otherwise convey a wetland development right. Real estate values are established through normal right-of-way appraisal methods, and acquisition negotiations are all handled by NCDOT right of way staff. Technical mitigation feasibility studies, which include a delineation of existing wetlands, preliminary field survey, planning, design and construction are primarily handled by NCDOT staff, but some projects may be contracted out. All interagency coordination related to site design, performance specifications, and mitigation credit approval by regulatory agencies is handled by the NCDOT. Construction bids are let after designs are completed and approved. NCDOT environmental staff monitors construction activities to ensure project specifications are met. Post-construction monitoring to ensure that success criteria are met is also done by NCDOT environmental staff. Most of the construction contracts for these in-house mitigation projects are let separately from the highway construction contract. On site mitigation within or immediately adjacent to the highway right of way is sometimes included in the primary construction contract; plans for these projects are included in the main construction specifications and plans bid package.

Mitigation assets are located throughout the State.

The North Carolina State In-Lieu Fee wetland and stream mitigation program, or Wetland Restoration Program (WRP) was established with initial funding by the State legislature in 1996. The WRP is managed by the North Carolina Department of Natural Resources (NCDNR). NCDNR wetlands managers develop watershed management plans for wetlands and stream restoration for eight river sub-basins, also called cataloguing units, representing about one third of the state. These plans identify needs and opportunities for wetland and stream restoration, enhancement and creation on a watershed scale. NCDOT is required to use the WRP for needed compensatory wetland and stream mitigation within the eight sub-basins, as established by a Memorandum of Agreement between the NCDOT and the North Carolina Wetland Restoration Program signed in 1999. Private developers can also buy credits from the WRP on a discretionary basis. The fees for mitigation were established in the creating legislation. The current cost for stream restoration is $125/ft. The cost for non-riparian work is currently established at $12,000/acre, and tidal mitigation costs are set at $125,000/acre.

The Full Delivery Program (FDP) facilitates a wetland or stream mitigation project that is planned, designed, constructed and monitored by a private firm on property acquired by that firm under contract to the North Carolina Department of Transportation. This process includes the following steps:

1. solicit proposals from interested contractors,
2. review qualifications and prequalify contractors (currently 30 listed),
3. identify mitigation needs by location, habitat type, and amount,
4. issue Request for Proposals to qualified contractors,
5. review proposals,
6. conduct site visits with NCDOT staff,
7. evaluate and select appropriate sites based on price and potential, and
8. negotiate and enter into contracts with selected firms.

NCDOT must identify mitigation needs early in the project development process. Contractors submit competitive proposals for project-specific, area-based, mitigation needs identified by NCDOT. Mitigation needs are classified into three basic categories of aquatic resources - tidal, riverine, and non-riverine. Evaluation of contractors' proposals is done by NCDOT environmental staff based on two criteria - technical quality and cost. After a selection is made, the contractor's proposal is made part of permit applications. The contractor is also free to contact the regulatory agencies during the bid development process. After bids are let, the contractor is responsible for all aspects of project delivery, including site acquisition and maintenance, interagency coordination, mitigation credit approval by regulatory agencies, and required corrective measures.

Currently the Full Delivery Program has executed thirteen contracts that involve 1975 acres, 848 wetland credits, and 31,025 feet of stream restoration, at a total cost of $31,520,100. We expect to continue and expand all three mitigation programs.