Goals of Mitigation Planting
Before jumping into mitigation design, it is helpful to determine your goals and think about the level of mitigation that is appropriate for your project. You need to have a basic understanding of the planting and monitoring process. You need to do some planning on how you can provide clarity to contractors on your plan sheets, specifications, and instructions to bidding contractors.
Let’s talk about goals first. The reason people mitigate for disturbed construction sites is not simply to comply with Environmental Protection Agency requirements. It makes good sense to do the right thing and clean up the mess in the most efficient and effective way possible. If you know how to implement vegetative healing of a site, you can make tweaks in the design phase of construction that will save everyone time and money. Vegetative mitigation is hard work, so you want to keep things simple and realistic. If your planning is thorough, you can also keep the survey, design, installation, and monitoring responsibilities in good order, so no one is thrown with a last-minute surprise. You can see that doing the right thing is also doing the best thing for all involved.
A new Advanced Guide to Environmental Mitigation Planting eBook, based on years of experience working with the pros and providing guidance for the most efficient and cost-effective way to plant stream relocation, storm water retention, and wetland projects is available now.
New Article! Roadside Stream Buffers and State Waters
New Article! Mitigation Success
New Article! Getting the Team Together
New Article! Scope of Services
New Article! Complex Water Systems
New Article! Protecting Existing Vegetation during Construction
New Article! The Role of Landscape Architects in Roadside Stream Restoration Success
New Article! Maintenance of a Wetland Stream Restoration Site
New Article! A Checklist for Monitoring Wetland Stream Restoration Planting
New Article! Why Do Wetland Restoration Projects Fail?