[1] Conservation banks are permanently protected parcels of land with inherent abilities to harbor, preserve, and manage the survival of endangered and threatened species, along with their critical habitat.
Banks are often considered to be the more ecologically efficient option for mitigation because they generally incorporate larger tracts of land that enables higher quality habitat and range connectivity, thereby creating a stronger chance of survival and sustainability for the species.
In-Lieu fee programs allows a permittee to contribute money into a United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) approved fund in lieu of implementing their own mitigation.
This is due to the stringent performance standards imposed on bank owners by the USFWS, which also requires them to have adequate funding into perpetuity, and to have long term management plans.
[1] Another advantage is that purchasing credits from a conservation bank ensures that species and/or habitat protection is already in place before the impact occurs.
In addition, liability for habitat and species mitigation success is shifted to the conservation bank owner is a benefit to the developer or permittee.
[3] Conservation banks act as a mechanism for compensation when a species or habitat is affected during development by providing credits that can be purchased by permitees to offset their negative impact.
Comparatively, conservation banks are more cost effective as they are able to maintain larger blocks of land with greater functionality for a species, such as allowing habitat connectivity.
For purchasers, this is also time-effective by allowing them to forgo their responsibility of handling on-or-off mitigation measures that can run into administrative delays due to the USFWS review and approval process.
Current data suggests that conservation credits range in price from a low of $1500 per mitigation of a Gopher Tortoise to as much as $325,000 for vernal pool preservation.
These states include Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Kansas, Maryland, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.
[8] Nationally, some species with the largest respective habitat coverage include: American burying beetle, California tiger salamander, California red-legged frog, calippe silverspot butterfly, Florida panther, golden-cheeked warbler, lesser prairie chicken, Utah prairie dog, valley elderberry longhorn beetle, vernal pool fairy shrimp, vernal pool tadpole shrimp.
Species benefited in these banks include the burrowing owl, coastal sage scrub, delta smelt, California giant garter snake, longfin smelt, California salmonids, San Bernardino kangaroo rat, San Joaquin kit fox, Santa Ana River Woollystar, Swainson's Hawk, and valley elderberry longhorn beetle.
A draft of the Endangered Species Act Compensatory Mitigation Policy was proposed by the Department of Fish and Wildlife Service in September, 2016 with the intention to create a mechanism for the US Department of the Interior to comply with Executive order (80 FR 68743), which directs Federal agencies that manage natural resources “to avoid and then minimize harmful effects to land, water, wildlife, and other ecological resources (natural resources) caused by land- or -water-disturbing activities…” This policy would provide guidance to the USFWS about planning and implementation of compensatory mitigation strategies.