Laserfiche WebLink
Ecalo~,~rcul Beire~ts <br />In recent years, studies have reaffirmed the <br />critical role that wetlands play in the healthy <br />fimctioning of lnllnans, wildlife, and <br />watersheds. The ecological services wetlands <br />provide are considered so important that <br />researchers have attempted to quantify their <br />value in eCOIlo1nIC terms. A study on <br />wetlands in Washington state <br />(httn:/hvww.ecv.wa.~av'pubs/971 OO.pdf) <br />valued wetland functions at $13,000 to $~ 1,0(1(1 <br />an acre while a global study of wetland <br />services pinned their value at $7,927 per arxe <br />per year. "I'he tU11ct10I1S quantified include <br />supporting an immense variety oC p1~u71s and <br />animals; assisting in floodwater control (by <br />absorbing large volumes of water); improving <br />water quality through filtering; buffering <br />shorelines, stream banks, and agricultural soils <br />from erosion; recharging stream flow during <br />dry periods; and sequestering carbon (b}' <br />absorbing carbon in its plant communities and <br />soil rather than releasing it as carbon dioxide). <br />Wetlands' ability to filterconta-ninantsout of <br />water is of p~u-titular importance to mine land <br />owners, because constructed wetlands have <br />been instrumental in remcdiating acid mine <br />drall7age at Illally n7111111g slteS. <br />As a compensatory Illltlgatlol7 approach, <br />wetland banking provides certain ecological <br />benefit`s that other compensatory uuhgation <br />methods do not. E3ecause the wetlands at a <br />bank must be monitored and fully functional <br />in adrarlc•e of development that adversely <br />affect wetlands, w•etlal7d banking is more <br />likely to successfully offset the damaged <br />wetland tunctloning than mitigation occurring <br />after the damage. has taken place. <br />Additionally, the wetland bank's existence <br />anti proven functionality prior to a developer's <br />need for its credits eliminates the temporal <br />