Any person, business, or agency proposing to impact existing aquatic resources must be permitted to do so by the Corps of Engineers. For the impacts that are unavoidable, the replacement of any loss of an aquatic resource is required through the restoration and protection of another aquatic area, known as compensatory mitigation, and overseen by the Corps. This is part of a set of standards implemented by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Corps to promote "no net loss" of aquatic resources. In general, compensatory mitigation should be located within the same watershed as the impact site and should be located where it is most likely to successfully replace functions and services lost as a result of the impact to waters. The amount of compensatory mitigation required is dependent on project impacts and is stated in the conditions of the associated permit. Compensatory mitigation can be carried out through four methods: the restoration of a previously-existing wetland or other aquatic site, the establishment (i.e. creation) of a new aquatic site, the enhancement of an existing aquatic site’s functions, or the preservation of an existing aquatic site. There are three mechanisms for providing compensatory mitigation:

• Mitigation Banks: Sites that have been restored and protected by formal agreement between the Corps and the mitigation bank sponsor. This agreement includes construction and monitoring standards to ensure quality and performance of the mitigation bank site. A mitigation bank sponsor may be a government agency, non-profit organization, or corporation. The Corps, in cooperation with other Federal, state, or local agencies, determines the amount of environmental credits a  mitigation bank can provide. Mitigation credits are then used to offset environmental impacts from projects permitted by the Corps under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act. In-Lieu fee or permittee-responsible mitigation may be used when mitigation banks are not available.
• In-Lieu Fee Programs: An agreement between a regulatory agency or agencies (state, federal, or local) and a single mitigation sponsor which must be a public agency or non-profit organization. Under an in-lieu-fee agreement, the mitigation sponsor collects funds from permittees in lieu of providing permittee-responsible compensatory mitigation. The sponsor uses the funds pooled from multiple permittees to create one or more sites under the authority of the agreement to compensate for aquatic resource functions lost as a result of the permits issued.
  • Missouri Conservation Heritage Foundation: mchf@MoCHF.org
  • Land Learning Foundation: info@landlearning.org
• Permittee-Responsible Mitigation

Regulatory in Lieu Fee and Bank Information Tracking System (RIBITS)

RIBITS was developed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to track mitigation banking and in-lieu fee program activities across the U.S. RIBITS includes information regarding banks and ILF program sites, associated documents, mitigation credit availability, service areas, and policies and procedures that affect bank and ILF program development and operation.