Quote:
Originally Posted by cajun bill
You can destroy an existing wetland area (LAbERGE) if you pay $$$ to someone who has an existing wetland enrolled in the program. How or who is going to develop the millions of acres on the coast owned by Miami Corp, Vermilion Corp, ect. it's never gonna happen but they can sell it in mitigation for someone to build a hotel on a marsh area if the pony up the chedda. How does this promote/protect the wetlands drained for non-beneficial use?
Are you saying that if Miami, Vermilion, etc. sell their land into some kind of mitigation bank, that they still own the land and can lease it out for duck hunting, etc., but they receive money because they promise never to develop it and that they will keep it as wetlands?
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You can lease out the land of a mitigation bank absolutely as long as the users/lessors do not damage or alter the land. There are certain guidelines that have to be met and as long as those are met, you are free to use it as you wish. There is a mitigation bank that is now part of Maurepas WMA and its open to the public to hunt. The mitigation credits are still owned by the former landowner but the state manages the property just like they would the entire WMA. It was part of the large Maurepas WMA acquisition this last year.
The guidelines for each habitat are different and I am not familiar with marsh banks, but for instance on longleaf pine banks you have to control invasive plants (chinese tallowtree is prominent in many of them), offsite trees (in SW La, slash pines will blow in from the neighboring slash pine plantations and have to be taken out. They are native to SE La), certain hardwoods, and then maintain the understory vegetation. Longleaf piney woods have a very diverse understory and that is one of the main components in this type of bank. There is a rating system for the grasses, wildflowers, etc and you have to keep up the 'score' and maintain the diversity. Prescribed fire is also a requirement in the longleaf system, and it depends on where you are at as to how often you are required to burn.