Component #5 



The Montana Department of Transportation's (MDT) por'-ion of 

 this interagency grant proposal to the Environmentai -'rot'-i-i.tion 

 Agency (EPA) is composed of five tasks. The tasks all originate 

 from needs we have identified in our MDT wetlands program and 

 consider to be applicable to the development of a state program. 

 Currently, MDT's ability to effectively manage for wetland 

 resources is impeded by several factors: the absence of a program 

 review or audit, lack of project monitoring, an incomplfa ledger 

 accounting system, and the need for an updated action plan. 

 We are unable to answer critical questions. What is the success 

 rate of our mitigation program? Why are the projects faj.j-ing? 

 How many acres and what type of wetlands are being lost. 

 statewide? What types are gained? Are we complying with wetland 

 regulations and agreements? We feel that assessing and 

 monitoring programs and projects to determine their abilities to 

 meet pre-determined goals is key to the success of any prcgram. 

 Cur proposal focusses on this belief. 



Tasks 1 & 2 involve auditing and criticizing MDT's wetland » 

 and mitigation programs. Lessons learned will be used in forming 

 a new MDT wetlands management action plan and will be freely 

 shared so that others may benefit from our mistakes and 

 successes. Tasks 3 & 4 entail the development of tools to help 

 managers manage the wetlands resource. The development of a 

 statewide wetlands data base/ tracking system will help answer 

 many pressing questions and provide a method to organize growing 

 amounts of data and mitigation sites. Integral to this is the 

 development and implementation of a monitoring plan and 

 methodology for wetland mitigation sites. The lessons learned, 

 techniques developed, and action plans proposed will be compiled 

 and shared through Task 5 . 



The outcomes and benefits of successful completion of the 

 proposal will have immediate and long term positive affects on 

 wetland conservation and management for MDT, for the state of 

 Montana, and for other states. Immediate remedial actions will 

 be taken, where practicable, on those MDT mitigation sites proven 

 to be ineffective wetlands. MDT is committed to learn from the 

 findings and is committed to implement a progressive wetland 

 management plan. Other agencies, in and outside of Montana, 

 will have the opportunity to learn from MDT's audit and 

 experiences. Additionally, completion of this proposal would 

 help assure continues compliance with Section 404 of the Clean 

 Water Act, enabling the Corps of Engineers to expedite issuance 

 of a General Permit for most state highway construction projects. 



Completion of these tasks in combination with the other 

 proposal components will enable Montana, her state agencies, and 

 the private sector manage and conserve the wetlands resource more 

 effectively and comprehensively. 



