French Quarter Creek Mitigation Bank

• Wetlands, Streams or Nutrients: Primary: Cooper Watershed (03050201) Secondary: South Carolina Coastal (03050202); Santee (03050112)

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RES serves as the French Quarter Creek Mitigation Bank (FQC) sponsor and will oversee design, permitting, construction, monitoring, and credit sales. The 445-acre site includes 269 acres of bottomland hardwood and longleaf pine savannah wetlands, which will be restored and enhanced. Hydrologic and vegetative enhancement will be achieved through grading, invasive removal, native plantings, and prescribed burns. Upon bank approval, it will provide compensatory mitigation credits for unavoidable impacts to jurisdictional wetlands in the greater Charleston area.

The FQC site was chosen for its unique ability to promote habitat connectivity, as it is situated adjacent to a Lowcounty Land Trust property within the Francis Marion National Forest. Upon completing the bank, RES will provide five years of ecological site monitoring, reporting, and maintenance to comply with the bank’s required success criteria.

Initial feasibility tasks provided by RES alongside its subcontractor, Wood PLC, included environmental site assessment, wetland delineation, US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) confirmation, Threatened & Endangered Species Studies, water budget development, agency coordination, and other upfront planning tasks as required. RES anticipates obtaining approval of the Mitigation Banking Instrument from the Interagency Review Team (IRT) in early 2021.