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Biodiversity Offsetting Case Study

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Biodiversity Offsetting Case Study Biodiversity Offsetting Case Study Location Bainbridge Island, USA Year 2009 – ongoing Project A 12 home single family residential development and a public infrastructure description project (relocation of a shoreline road). This is a pilot project in the Business and Biodiversity Offsets Programme. Actors active in the case City of Bainbridge Island – conducts the development and the offsetting project Department of Planning and Community Development – encourages developers to implement biodiversity offsets Upper Blakely LLC – the development company Bainbridge Island Land Trust – responsible for long term conservation success Private landowner – participating voluntarily, exploring the potential to offset the development impacts citizens affected by the offsetting – attended public hearing See detailed table of stakeholder identification in Table 3. Background and activities involved The pilot programme is a cooperation between a private landowner and the City of Bainbridge. The project intends to show how a forest and a shoreline habitat can be protected even as a development occurs. 2 types of activities involved: Public infrastructure project: It contains of a relocation of a shoreline road. This area is in the property of a private landowner. Portions of this road are located very close to the water. The road with the bulkhead increases wave energy, thereby altering the substrate of the beach and threatening intertidal habitat. The location of the road also replaces natural riparian vegetation, further threatening the potential marine riparian functions. The City agreed to move the road inland, away from the shoreline, which would impact marine riparian area and a forested wetland. Moving the road inland involves some impacts to a small wetland, which will trigger a regulatory requirement to offset the wetland impacts. Residential project: The site is located on a hillside along the shoreline of Blakely Harbor. The site is vegetated with mixed deciduous and coniferous forest. The site is identified as having medium to high environmental sensitivity. The development company has a permission to develop 12 homes on the site, which impacts approximately 16 hectares. - Approximately 12 ha of forested property will be preserved as permanent open space. - 3.24 ha will be cleared to make room for home sites, an access road and storm water facilities. All in all: Building homes + building the infrastructure on the property Offsetting activities involve: Designing a conceptual offset for impacts (by the City) Offset site selection Shoreline restoration Planting of native conifer species Removal of invasive species Calculation of biodiversity loss Calculation of offset gains See the video of the private landowner’s restoration efforts. (Reuniting land and water.) Detailed development project activities: Source of the table: http://www.forest- trends.org/documents/files/doc_3120.pdf Results of the For this project, biodiversity offset can result in conservation gains above and offsetting beyond those required by regulations. activities The existing roadbed would be restored to marine forest riparian habitat once it is abandoned and the new road is constructed. The riparian corridor will increase in width from an average of 3 m to up to 30 m in some places. The new riparian corridor will be replanted with native shrubs and trees. This will enhance ecosystem functions. It is expected to improve potential habitat for salmonids. Was there a long term conservation It is planned. management and Until the biodiversity offsets are implemented and then monitored over the monitoring? long term it will be impossible to assess whether the goal of ‘no net loss’ of (offsets are biodiversity has been achieved. required to have funding set aside for long-term management) Measurability of Hectares affected by construction offsetting success Quantification of biodiversity losses has taken place: (metrics used) o an accounting approach enables to compare biodiversity loss at the impact site and biodiversity gains at offset sites o the habitat hectares method uses benchmark (reference) sites, creates a multi-attribute scoring index against which losses and gains are measured You can read in more details about these methods in the source in Appendix A. Type of offset in terms of Offset for the residential project: In-kind offset (restoring and protecting environment forest habitat). (same functions restored?) Offset for the road project: Both In-kind and Out of-kind offsets. In kind: measures Implementing a restoration on the site from where the road was removed. of similar type (In-kind) Out of kind: Restore intertidal habitat to offset impacts to wetland. (Out of-kind) measures of similar value For wetland impacts, in-kind mitigation is required by US law. Type of offset in terms of Construction of the new road alignment and shoreline restoration will be compensation completed by the City. The offsets for the residential component would be payment funded and implemented by the residential property owners. The private landowner’s Shoreline Restoration Project from 2012 is financially supported by a Family, the Puget Sound Acquisition and Restoration Fund (PSAR), and Brainbridge Island Land Trust. Pictures Public infrastructure project: Photo source: http://www.forest-trends.org/documents/files/doc_3120.pdf Shoreline restoration: Photo source: http://www.insidebainbridge.com/tag/salmon-habitat- restoration-bainbridge-island/ Photo source: http://www.insidebainbridge.com/tag/salmon-habitat- restoration-bainbridge-island/ Sources Business and Biodiversity Offsets Programme (BBOP), BBOP Pilot Project Case Study, Bainbridge Island (2009) Bainbridge Island Land Trust’s website Photos: http://www.insidebainbridge.com/tag/salmon-habitat-restoration- bainbridge-island/ .
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