Advance Mitigation and Mitigation Banking Programs USE OF HABITAT CREDIT TRADING AS A MITIGATION TOOL FOR TRANSPORTATION PROJECTS: A FEDERAL HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATION PILOT PROJECT IN ARKANSAS

Two programs within the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service‟s Habitat Credit Trading Program currently exist to allow for “banking” of habitat credits: traditional Conservation Banking and the recently introduced Recovery Crediting System (RCS). Both of these mechanisms embody the intent of Executive Order 13352 on Facilitation of Cooperative Conservation and the environmental stewardship and streamlining direction of SAFETEA-LU. The RCS was introduced by the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service in November 2007 as an additional conservation tool to aid Federal agencies in meeting their ESA obligations to conserve listed species. Similar to a conservation bank, a RCS allows Federal agencies to bank credits in advance of anticipated impacts to threatened and endangered species, their habitat, and its functions. Unlike a conservation bank, recovery crediting encourages Federal agencies to partner with private and non-Federal landowners to accrue credits through mutually beneficial conservation agreements, which may be in perpetuity (easement or fee title purchase) for permanent impacts, or that may address temporary construction impacts through non-perpetual easements. The first application of the RCS occurred in Texas where the U.S. Army/Ft. Hood Military Reservation banked credits for conservation actions conducted on private lands to offset impacts to endangered golden-cheeked warbler habitat. Recognizing the need to avoid piecemeal approaches to endangered species conservation, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is considering a pilot project to establish a marketbased system, Habitat Credit Trading, to address Section 7 of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) requirements for transportation projects on a local scale. Arkansas State Highway 18 connects the city of Jonesboro and other townships in northeast Arkansas to Interstate 55. A proposed FHWA funded project will upgrade the facility from two to four lanes. Highway 18 (bridge and approaches) forms the southern boundary of Big Lake National Wildlife Refuge near Manila, Arkansas and the project will impact < 10 acres of the 11,038 acre refuge. The federally endangered fat pocketbook mussel (Potamilus capax) occurs in streams adjacent to private lands within the project area downstream of U.S. Army Corps of Engineer water control structures that drain Big Lake National Wildlife Refuge. In this paper we analyze the applications of the RCS and evaluate the efficiency of this conservation tool in relation to the proposed and future transportation projects. We examine the RCS as one of the tools available to Federal agencies, which allows them to meet their ESA obligations through a more innovative and customized approach.