Wetlands Mitigation Data Report for Federal-Aid Highway Projects
Fiscal Year 2001

Background

An indicator of meeting the FHWA Strategic Plan objective for protecting the natural environment is to provide compensatory mitigation on Federal-aid highway projects that results in a net increase of wetland acreage of at least 50 percent over a 10-year period from 1996 to 2006. Documenting agency performance toward achieving this indicator is achieved by compiling information from FHWA field offices that allows a comparison of the area of wetlands unavoidably impacted to the area of wetlands provided through compensatory wetland mitigation efforts. The most direct and straightforward way to gather and present the information is on an acreage basis.

As a result, progress during fiscal years 1996-2000, and now, 2001 has been measured for Federal-aid projects nationwide by comparing the total acres of wetland impacted by projects in the reporting State programs to the acres of wetland provided as compensatory mitigation. We continue to recommend that information collected for fiscal years 1996-2000 be used with caution, and that further research on the success and performance of compensatory mitigation sites is necessary to substantiate the achievement of our long-range strategic performance objectives.

We believe the current data, in conjunction with similar data compiled for fiscal years 96-00, provides a valuable performance indicator of the Federal-aid highway program in achieving an immediate increase of wetland area, and is strongly indicative that a long-term net gain of wetlands functions and values is being realized within the federally-funded highway program.

Results for FY 2001

Using the FY 2001 data, we estimate that impacts to wetlands in the Federal-aid highway program accounted for approximately 1905 acres of wetland loss, and 4017 acres of compensatory mitigation (from individual Section 404 permits for all 50 States, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia). The estimates for all States, Puerto Rico, and the District were made using the data from the 48 reporting divisions divided by the fraction of divisions reporting: 48/51= 0.94. (Note: the District of Columbia reported 0 acres and was not considered in this analysis due to its small relative area.) The data does not provide a complete record of wetland impacts due to federally-funded highway projects, but are a measure of program performance against a "net gain of wetlands" criteria. On a program wide basis the FY 2001 figures indicate that Federal-aid highway projects provided 2.11 acres of compensatory wetland mitigation for each acre of impact.

Summary

The reports submitted indicate that our compensatory mitigation ratio is approximately 2.1:1 for the Federal-aid highway program on a national basis, representing up to about 2 percent of the estimated total nationwide wetland replacement rate, most of which comes from restoration of agricultural lands. This ratio is comparable for wetlands impact mitigation data for the Federal-aid program collected in FY 1996-99, which average about 2.3:1.

The mitigation ratio reflected in these data is a strong indicator that the project eligibility and funding provisions for wetland mitigation in the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 and strengthened in TEA-21, continue to be effective in enhancing the natural environment. We feel that those provisions will be helpful in accomplishing the Nation's environmental goals under the Clean Water Action Plan initiatives and the Wetlands Management Plan. We also believe these data indicate new opportunities for increased flexibility in mitigating wetlands impacts through other wetland conservation programs which are eligible for TEA-21 funds. This could yield further cost efficiencies and ecological benefits in mitigating the wetland impacts of highway projects.