Pioneer Mitigation Bank (PMB) is a proposed wetland mitigation bank designed to preserve, enhance, and/or establish approximately 863.9 acres of wetland and 370.7 acres of upland communities to improve fish and wildlife habitat use and connectivity; increase wetland, floodplain, and riverine function and quality; and improve the overall integrity of the communities within the Peace River Watershed.

Our team staff provided mitigation bank design and permitting assistance. Pre-application efforts included working with a professional surveyor to collect LiDAR data, a desktop review of the site, and fieldwork to delineate wetlands and surface waters, evaluate habitats, and conduct listed species surveys. Additionally, Verdantas partnered with RESPEC to evaluate the site's water resources, including stormwater analyses and hydrologic monitoring of both nutrient loading and water level elevations. We then developed mitigation plan strategies including design of wetland creation, restoration, enhancement and preservation components. 

The baseline site information and mitigation plan were incorporated into applications for both state and federal permitting. This included the preparation of a Prospectus and Mitigation Banking Instrument (MBI) for review by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and Interagency Review Team (IRT), as well as an Environmental Resource Permit (ERP) application for review by the Southwest Florida Water Management District (SWFWMD).

The location of the mitigation bank is only accessible agricultural roads through active citrus fields. To satisfy permit requirements, Verdantas staff collaborated with Stearns Weaver Miller and SWFWMD legal counsel to develop an access easement through the agricultural fields to ensure future accessibility to the site for construction, maintenance, and monitoring.