MEMPHIS – September 18, 2015 – Public Agencies and private developers looking to make up for unavoidable wetland loss can now turn to the world leader in wetlands restoration, Ducks Unlimited. With the sale of the first credits from the Mt. Tena Creek Mitigation Bank, DU has entered the mitigation banking business.
"Ducks Unlimited has nearly 80 years of experience restoring and managing wetlands across North America," DU CEO Dale Hall said. "While we are not in the business of permitting wetland destruction, we are in the business of wetlands restoration. It was a natural step for us to offer mitigation credits to make up for permitted, unavoidable wetland losses caused by development."
Ducks Unlimited, Inc. and the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) reached an agreement earlier this month that will allow TDOT to fulfill its future wetland mitigation requirements throughout the Wolf River watershed by using credits generated at DU's Mt. Tena Creek Mitigation Bank.
The Mt. Tena Creek Mitigation Bank was first proposed by Ducks Unlimited in 2012. Following more than 24 months of negotiations with multiple federal and state agencies, the Mt. Tena Creek Mitigation Bank was approved by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation in 2014.
Since then, Ducks Unlimited engineers and biologists have restored more than 70 acres of bottomland hardwood forest, including planting approximately 35,000 native trees, on the site's former agricultural fields. The restored wetlands will provide water quality benefits for the Memphis region, increasing recharge to the Memphis Sands aquifer and filtering runoff before it reaches the Wolf River and its tributaries.
"DU's investment in the Mt Tena Creek Mitigation Bank will allow us to donate the property to the state of Tennessee as an addition to the Wolf River State Natural Area," Hall said. "It will also generate financial returns to be reinvested into DU's conservation work in the future."
Ducks Unlimited now has mitigation credits available in five states. For more on Ducks Unlimited's mitigation work, go to www.ducks.org/mitigation.
Ducks Unlimited Inc. is the world's largest non-profit organization dedicated to conserving North America's continually disappearing waterfowl habitats. Established in 1937, Ducks Unlimited has conserved more than 13 million acres thanks to contributions from more than a million supporters across the continent. Guided by science and dedicated to program efficiency, DU works toward the vision of wetlands sufficient to fill the skies with waterfowl today, tomorrow and forever. For more information on our work, visit www.ducks.org. Connect with us on our Facebook page at facebook.com/DucksUnlimited, follow our tweets at twitter.com/DucksUnlimited and watch DU videos at youtube.com/DucksUnlimitedInc.
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