BATON ROUGE, LA, March 29, 2010 -- Second Louisiana Resource, L.L.C. (SLR) a subsidiary of Resource Environmental Solutions L.L.C. (RES) received approval of the fourth planned phase of the Black Bayou Mitigation Bank located in northeast Catahoula Parish, Louisiana. Just two miles southeast of the Sicily Island Hills State Wildlife Management Area, this multi-purpose wetland and stream mitigation bank is used to provide compensatory mitigation credits for developers whose projects impact land recognized as wetlands or streams. Development projects that have surface impacts such as roads and highways, infrastructure such as natural gas, oil and product pipelines and drilling pads used by natural resource exploration and production companies may all utilize these compensatory mitigation credits as mitigation solutions required by the US Army Corps in their Clean Water Act section 404 permitting processes.
Black Bayou Mitigation Bank Phase I restored and protected 577 acres of agricultural land and was approved on August 19, 2008. Phase II, approved at end March 2009, added 115.1 acres of restored wetlands and included 3.74 miles of stream restoration -- Louisiana's first stream bank. Just three months later, SLR increased its mitigation activities significantly with the Phase III addition of over 613 acres of restored, prior-converted croplands. With Phase IV now online, some 2,504 contiguous acres of wetland and stream restoration projects are included in the Mitigation Bank Restoration Plan, representing one of the largest areas of mitigation activity in Louisiana, with a primary service area defined by USGS Hydrologic Cataloging Unit 08040207, the Lower Ouachita Drainage Basin. Restoration activities include modifying surface hydrology to permit water to flow naturally and unimpeded and planting of hundreds of thousands of species of hardmast and softmast bottomland hardwood trees including varieties of Oak, Hickory, Ash and Elm trees in higher elevation areas with baldcypress and Tupelo gum trees being planted in lower elevation areas. SLR monitors and maintains these restored lands and reports progress regularly to the Corps and the Bank's interagency review team that also includes the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.
"Black Bayou Mitigation Bank Phase IV represents the culmination of many years of site planning and technical evaluation enabled by completing several complex real estate transactions to establish a contiguous wetland and stream restoration area now exceeding 2,500 acres," said Elliott Bouillion, RES president and CEO. "Public agencies, public and private companies and individuals whose development projects may have unavoidable impacts in these environmentally sensitive areas are able to source both wetland and stream mitigation credits to fulfill their permitting requirements. RES remains committed to restoring wetlands and enabling economic development throughout the state of Louisiana."
About Resource Environmental Solutions, LLC
Resource Environmental Solutions balances responsible stewardship of America's ecosystems with generating attractive returns for our partners by investing human and financial capital in the restoration and preservation of environmentally sensitive lands to facilitate sustainable economic growth. Learn more about RES at www.resmitigation.com.
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