Wetland Mitigation

Heartland Restoration Services’ experienced staff has installed and managed hundreds of environmental mitigation projects throughout the Midwest, including wetlands, streams, and riparian buffers. A successful mitigation project requires intelligent design, high quality native plant materials, proper installation, and exotic/invasive plant management.

 

Intelligent Design
Heartland Restoration Services, along with Earth Source, Inc, can provide a turnkey solution to any environmental mitigation project. Complex projects with specific requirements and goals may require the development of detailed construction documents. Environmental design services will typically be provided by Earth Source, Inc.

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High Quality Native Plant Materials
Heartland uses their 50-acre native seed and plant nursery to supply source-documented, local-genotype, native seed and plant material for environmental mitigation projects. Heartland maintains a list of native seed mixes ideal for establishing native Midwestern habitats; however, Heartland can customize any seed mix to meet project-specific requirements or design a seed mix based upon site conditions and long-term project goals.

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Heartland’s greenhouse facility also provides native plant plugs. Planting plugs in coordination with seeding ensures a rapid establishment of native plants, increases diversity, and reduces long-term management costs associated with exotic and invasive species control.

 

Installation
Depending on the size and proposed topography of the site, methods of seed application may include drilling with a rangeland-type grass seed drill or broadcast seeder.  Erosion control using straw mulch, erosion control blanket, or bioengineering materials may also be a part of the mitigation design. 

 

If plug plantings are specified in the design, they are generally installed in the spring.  Trees and shrubs are installed in the spring or fall in forested wetland mitigations and/or riparian buffers.

 

Management and Monitoring
Management is absolutely necessary for any mitigation project. Following installation, mitigation projects typically require aggressive management in the first 3 – 5 years. Heartland will develop an adaptive management plan to address Invasive/Exotic plant control in order to

meet the permit success criteria.

 

If required, mitigation monitoring services can be provided by Earth Source, Inc. Observations recorded during each site visit will be utilized by Heartland to anticipate changes and services identified in their management plan.