Conservation Banking

Conservation banking is an environmental market-based method designed to offset adverse impacts, generally, to species of concern, are threatened, or endangered and protected under the United States Endangered Species Act (ESA) through the creation of conservation banks. Conservation banking can be viewed as a method of mitigation that allows permitting agencies to target various natural resources typically of value or concern, and it is generally contemplated as a protection technique to be implemented before the valued resource or species will need to be mitigated. The ESA prohibits the "taking" of fish and wildlife species which are officially listed as endangered or threatened in their populations. However, under section 7(a)(2) for Federal Agencies, and under section 10(a) for private parties, a take may be permissible for unavoidable impacts if there are conservation mitigation measures for the impacted species or habitat. Purchasing “credits” through a conservation bank is one such mitigation measure to remedy the loss.

Conservation banks are permanently protected parcels of land with inherent abilities to harbor, preserve, and manage the survival of endangered and threatened species, along with their critical habitat. This allows the acquisition and protection of the parcels of land prior to future loss or disturbance to valued resources. Banks are often considered to be the more ecologically efficient option for mitigation because they generally incorporate larger tracts of land that enables higher quality habitat and range connectivity, thereby creating a stronger chance of survival and sustainability for the species. Rather than have developments offset their impacts by conserving small areas of habitat, conservation banking allows pooling multiple mitigation resources into a larger reserve. The intention of conservation banking is to create a no-net loss of the intended resources. It should also be noted that conservation banking may be used by various entitles as a method of species and habitat protection, as long as it is approved by the permitting agency.

Mitigation is the preservation of natural resources in order to offset unavoidable impacts to similar resources. Conservation banking mitigation is specific to species and their habitat which are protected under the Endangered Species Act. There are two other forms of mitigation besides conservation banking, including in-lieu fee and permittee-responsible programs. In-Lieu fee programs allows a permittee to contribute money into a United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) approved fund in lieu of implementing their own mitigation. To date, In-Lieu fee programs have only applied to wetlands. The sponsor of the fund then implements an appropriate mitigation project when enough money has been collected through the fund. In these situations, the fund sponsor is fully liable for the success of the mitigation. The second alternative form of mitigation is the Permittee-Responsible program, which allows the permittee takes on implementation and assumes liability for their own mitigation project to offset impacts.

...
Wikipedia