Is it possible to simultaneously promote natural resources conservation and the growth of businesses that impact the environment? Yes. One way to do so is through “compensatory mitigation.” Compensatory mitigation is the preservation, restoration and/or establishment of a resource to offset unavoidable adverse impacts to the resource elsewhere.
For example, a compensatory mitigation agreement created in 2013 helped advance conservation in Francis Marion and Sumter National Forests in South Carolina and business growth in the surrounding area. Here’s how: Under the agreement, three local businesses supported restoration projects that improved aquatic resources located inside the Forests in order to mitigate projects that had unavoidable impacts on wetlands located outside the Forests, typically within the same ecosystem. The three participating businesses were: Duke Energy, Boeing, and The City of Charleston. Unavoidable impacts to streams, wetlands and salt marsh were mitigated under the novel agreement.
