Idaho Transportation will design and construct the wetland bank. Regulatory and resource agencies 

 will be encouraged to express their interests and to provide their expertise. Each of the wetland bank 

 sites will be designed to be easily managed and to function with littie or rib human intervention. 



Two strategies will guide development of wetiand bank sites. The first prescribes the creation, 

 restoration, or enhancement of a wetiand of a particular system and class (eg. palustrine, emergent 

 wetland), with no emphasis given to any one function or value. The second prescribes the 

 development of a wetiand with emphasis given to functions and values of special concern (eg. habitat 

 for waterfowl). Other wetiand values may be incidentally provided by this strategy. However, they 

 are not a part of the intentional plan to compensate for losses. 



Idaho Transportation acknowledges that regulatory and resource agencies provide no guarantee that an 

 individual wetiand bank site will be accepted as mitigation. Their approval will be sought during the 

 US Army Corps of Engineers §404 - Efredge and Fill permit review process and at the time of a 

 proposed trade. This minimizes risk to the regulatory and resource agencies, and motivates Idaho 

 Transportation to maximize the quality of proposed wetiand bank sites. Review and approval will 

 require Idaho Transportation to demonstrate a functioning wetland has been created according to a 

 previously prepared plan. 



A transaction from the wetland bank will not be complete until a public agency, preferably a resource 

 agency, accepts ownership of the property and responsibility for operation and maintenance. No 

 public agency is obliged to accept these responsibilities. 



THE FUTURE 

 With the finalized agreement, the initial wetiand banking effort will focus on pilot projects in borrow 

 sources. In addition, Idaho Transportation may inventory existing wedands for enhancements. The 

 experience gained by the pilot projects will be used to review and modify the memoranda of agreement 

 prior to expansion of the wetland banking program. 



At present, we are actively developing our first proposed wetiand bank site. The site is located at the 

 Mud Lake Wildlife Management Area in eastern Idaho. Wc are also in the very early stages of 

 investigating the appropriateness of a second wetiand bank site on the Snake River. 



There is cautious confidence that the efforts of the team will add to the diminishing acreage of wetlands 

 in the Interaaountain West and improve our knowledge of methods and techniques to intentionally 

 create wetiands. 



KNOWLEDGE OF METHODS AND TECHNIQUES TO INTENTIONALLY CREATE 



WETLANDS 

 Idaho, like many areas of the coimtry, suffers from a lack of study of wetiand systems. Efforts to 

 intentionally create wetlands can greatiy benefit from advances in the state-of-the-an of wetiand 

 science. In recognition of this, the US Environmental Protection Agency, Federal Highway 

 Administration, and the Idaho Transportation Department are presentiy supporting research designed to 

 improve our ability to replicate namral systems. Preliminary results of a wetland revegetation 

 experiment offer interesting information and suggests means to best manage wetiands. 



Results of this research, conducted in palustrine, emergent wetiands within the riparian zone of the 



Boise River, suggest the following: 



• A ground slope of 5:1, from open water to 0.4 meters elevation above the ordinary 

 high water line, supports a reasonable diversity of hydrophytic plant species. Desirable 

 species include: broad-leaved cattail (Typha latifolia), spike rush (Eleocharis palustris), 

 soft rush {Juncus effusus), slender rush (Juncus tenuis), jointed rush (Juncus 

 articulatus), and longstyle rush (Juncus longistylis). 



