When the Port 460 Logistics Center could not avoid all impacts to streams and wetlands, the developer needed compensatory mitigation on a tight schedule — but no stream credits were available anywhere in the Lower James watershed. Wetland impacts were covered through purchased credits; for streams, RES developed an alternative, removing two on-site dams to generate the credits the project required, delivered as a single turnkey solution.

Working alongside the developer’s team, RES designed, permitted, constructed, and monitored the restoration to ensure mitigation compliance and hold the development schedule. The result was 3,056 stream mitigation credits from an approach that was both unique and cost-competitive. Because dam removal releases sediment, RES used sediment probing and contamination testing to produce a sediment management plan ahead of construction — addressing a risk that can otherwise stall a project late in the build.

For large-scale developments, the value is in the model: one partner carrying compensatory mitigation from design through a decade of monitoring, even where market credits don’t exist.

Project at a glance

• 3,056 stream mitigation credits generated
• 2,590 LF of stream channel restored
• 2 on-site dams removed
• 10 years of post-construction monitoring and maintenance

Scope of work

• Final mitigation plan, including design, monitoring and maintenance, invasives management, long-term financial assurances, and a conservation easement
• State and federal approval for 3,056 stream credits via dam removal and restoration of 2,590 LF of channel
• Local permitting, floodplain study, and FEMA coordination for a CLOMR
• Sediment assessment and mobilization study for each impoundment
• Construction: E&S controls, dam removal, stream channel creation, and planting
• 10 years of post-construction monitoring and maintenance

Additional resources

• A new Port of Virginia logistics center needed stream credits where there weren’t any. Dam removal saves the day.