National Compensatory Mitigation Training Course

Compensatory mitigation is a tool to conserve both aquatic resources (wetlands, streams and riparian areas) as permitted by the Clean Water Act (404 regulation) and endangered, threatened and other at-risk species and their habitat as permitted by the Endangered Species Act.

The 4.5-day training will cover key compensatory mitigation topics including but not limited to federal authorities and regulations regarding compensatory mitigation, the role of MRTs, the business of compensatory mitigation, compensatory mitigation site selection, compensatory mitigation instrument development and review, site protection mechanisms, service area determination, credit determination, short-term financial assurances, ecological performance standards, monitoring and credit release, long-term management and funding, compliance and in-lieu fee compensatory mitigation. The training will be provided by a suite of compensatory mitigation subject matter experts.

This course is designed to foster collaboration among regulators, compensatory mitigation sponsors and users (buyers of credits) — ensuring that all entities have a thorough grounding in compensatory mitigation policy in order to facilitate the establishment of compensatory mitigation programs on the ground. In addition to addressing core elements of compensatory mitigation instrument establishment and implementation, this advanced course also covers in-lieu fee programs and other credit trading systems and concepts. 

Course Objectives

• Provide a thorough grounding in the relevant federal policy and regulations guiding the review, establishment, and operation of compensatory mitigation programs. 
• Enable participants to identify the need for and opportunities associated with compensatory mitigation programs including economic benefits of third-party compensatory offsets from both a banker’s and user’s perspective. 
• Provide practitioners and reviewers expertise on how compensatory mitigation programs are effectively and efficiently reviewed and overseen in both their establishment and operation. 
• Provide leadership and team-building skills necessary to be an effective member of a compensatory mitigation partnership and, for agency staff, an effective member of a Mitigation Review Team. 

Target Audience

A pre-determined number of slots are available to representatives of partnering agencies including: U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS), NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), USDA Office of Environmental Markets (OEM), Department of Defense (DOD), U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Bureau of Land Management (BLM), as well as representatives from state agency counterparts and other mitigation partners (by application, see below). 

Additional Information

For questions about course logistics, please contact Greg Good (ggood@conservationfund.org).