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' mitigation bank has been proposed in the State of Colorado. That bank is the Loveland <br /> ' Ready Mix Concrete (Loveland) wetlands being established on the several acres adjacent <br /> to the southern boundary of the Flatiron Property. Mitigation banking, as defined by the <br /> ' U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Section, 404 of the Clean Water Act, is wetland <br /> restoration, creation, enhancement, and in exceptional circumstances, preservation <br /> ' undertaken expressly for the purpose of compensating for unavoidable wetland losses in <br /> advance of development actions, when such compensation cannot be achieved at the <br /> ' development site or would not be environmentally beneficial. It typically involves the <br /> consolidation of small, fragmented wetland mitigation projects into one large contiguous <br /> ' site. Units of restored, created, enhanced or preserved wetlands are expressed as "credits" <br /> which may subsequently be withdrawn to offset "debits"incurred at a project development <br /> site. Ideally, mitigation banks are constructed and functioning in advance of development <br /> impacts, and are seen as a way of reducing uncertainty in the Clean Water Act, Section <br /> 404. <br /> ' Wetland banking is a possibility for the Flatiron Property. Approximately 25 to 30 acres <br /> of the Flatiron Property (southern portion) are located within the floodplain of South <br /> ' Boulder Creek and outside of the flood berm. Under current floodplain regulations, it <br /> ' would be difficult to construct a building on this portion of the Property without <br /> considerable expense. Currently this acreage is comprised of three sedimentation ponds <br /> ' needed for the gravel mining operations. At the cessation of the Western Mobile, Inc. <br /> mining operation and upon completion of the reclamation plan, two of the existing three <br /> ' ponds are planned to be filled with sediment and no exposed water is to remain. It is likely <br /> that, left untended during the interim holding period, wetlands will establish themselves on <br /> this acreage. Since there is a high probability of wetlands establishment, the University <br /> should contact the Corps as soon as feasible to discuss the possibility of establishment of a <br /> ' wetlands bank for this area of the property. If a bank is not established, the wetlands will <br /> naturally occur on this portion of the site and the University will likely have wetlands <br /> ' created with no credit for their establishment and little chance of removing these wetlands, <br /> ' -20- <br />