The LSU AgCenter has finalized a deal with a firm to place nearly 900 acres of property in St. Gabriel into a wetlands mitigation bank, which will serve as a revenue generator after years of budget cuts.
After receiving two qualified offers for the project, the AgCenter tapped Spanish Lake Restoration LLC for the project, and this afternoon announced that it has finalized the contract for the property lease and operation with the firm. Spanish Lake Restoration is responsible for “the financing, design, construction, creation, enhancement, operation and maintenance of the mitigation bank on the property, in accordance with applicable university and AgCenter design standards and approvals.”
A mitigation bank is a wetlands area that has been restored, established or preserved to compensate for future conversions of wetlands for development activities. Under a federal program, developers can purchase credits from a mitigation bank to offset the loss of wetlands they will destroy elsewhere in the course of land development.
As part of the deal, the AgCenter will receive funds annually through a lease of the property to Spanish Lake Restoration, as well as 30% of the revenues from each mitigation credit sold.
According to the deal approved by the LSU Board of Supervisors approved last September, rent will be set at $200 per acre per year until all the credits are sold, and then $150 per acre per year for the remaining 30 years. The lease will expire 30 years after the sale of the last available mitigation credit.
The AgCenter intends to invest funds from the sale of mitigation credits and use the interest for endowed chairs, scholarship opportunities for students, natural resource and conservation research and internship opportunities for students.
“This initiative will create a conservation area that will be used as an outdoor classroom and laboratory for students and faculty as well as provide unique training opportunities for the public and other entities engaged in mitigation to study and learn first-hand about the mitigation process,” says William B. Richardson, LSU vice president for agriculture, in the press release.
