etowah river mitigation preserve
Etowah Water and Sewer Authority
& Dawson County Board of Commissioners
2001 - 2008
The site where the mitigation bank is situated was formerly an active corn field lying along approximately 1.5 miles of the Etowah River in Dawson County, Georgia.
The design work began with a complete delineation of wetlands and waters of the US, characterization of site vegetation, and mapping of soils conditions throughout the approximately 150-acre site. Hydrologic conditions were modeled to ensure that the restoration activities would not result in negative effects to existing structures and other agricultural activities. Wildlife and fisheries surveys were conducted. A detailed design was prepared for the restoration activity, including the design of ditch filling, restorative native tree and shrub planting, hydrologic improvement, and long-term monitoring. After successful permitting of the bank with the Mitigation Banking Review Team (US Army Corps of Engineers, US Fish and Wildlife Service, US Environmental Protection Agency, and Georgia Environmental Protection Division) the first credit release was obtained -- then, we began construction.
We coordinated the collection of bids for construction and we handled construction oversight activities to result in the successful restoration of over 100 acres of wetland and upland buffer, the preservation of over one mile of the Etowah River, and the restoration and stabilization of river bank using natural tree revetment installation. We oversaw the installation of vegetation and we installed several manual-read and continuous-read shallow ground water well monitoring devices. Mark engaged in credit sales marketing, credit sales accounting and reporting, and was in charge of requesting credit releases, long-term monitoring, reporting, and direct communications with the County and the regulatory agencies.