The Johnson Farm Mitigation Bank object is in the planning stages to construct a wetland mitigation bank (the bank) on Young’s River about 6 miles east of Astoria, Clatsop County, Oregon. Free title to a 300 acre parcel known as the Howard Johnson Farm has been acquired by the owners of Warrenton Fiber Co. The Johnson property will comprise a 260-acre estuarine mitigation bank. The mitigation plan for the bank property includes a combination of wetland enhancement and creation; some upland enhancement and preservation will also be included in the project.
A Mitigation Bank Prospectus is on file with the Oregon DSL and it outlines the goals, need and mitigation plan for the bank at a level sufficient for agency evaluation. The main purpose of the bank will be to provide needed compensation for unavoidable wetland losses associated with the property development. A portion of the bank’s credits will be used or sold for projects that impact wetlands within the service area that lack either adequate area for onsite mitigation or the opportunity to provide “in-kind” compensation for the impacts.
The goals of the mitigation bank are to reestablish native estuarine wetland……
The greater Lower Columbia Estuary drainage has experienced substantial growth during the last decade that is expected to continue into the foreseeable future. A similar situation also exists in the Clatsop Plains area, down the Oregon Coast to Cannon Beach, Manzanita and Nehalem, Oregon. The preferred onsite mitigation alternative will minimize impacts to the highest quality wetlands in the area but unavoidable impacts could occur to as many as 1,000 acres of wetlands. Compensatory mitigation would be required for these wetland impacts.
Therefore, the demand for a mitigation bank in the Lower Columbia River Estuary is expected to be high as credits earned by the bank are utilized for compensatory mitigation for development projects in the service area. The credits will also provide a mitigation option for other Coast Range projects for which off-site mitigation is appropriate (e.g., Astoria-Seaside By-Pass).
The proposed service area will encompass those portions of Clatsop, Columbia and Tillamook Counties in a geographical area extending 75 mites from the bank. Future economic expansion in the City of Warrenton, however, is anticipated to account for most of the mitigation credits generated by the bank. The service area includes substantial habitat of a type similar to that of the proposed bank. The types of wetlands to be developed within the mitigation bank were historically common within the preponderance service area. The proposed bank, when completed, will provide in-kind, off-site compensation for wetland impacts associated with development in the Warrenton area, and potentially in-kind and some out-of-kind compensation for a variety of wetland impacts within the service area when off-site mitigation is appropriate.
Location
The proposed bank is located about 6 miles south of Astoria, Oregon on the west bank of Young’s River, the boundaries are generally considered to be Tucker Creek to the north, Battle Slough to the South and Young River Loop Road to the West
The site is currently zoned EFU and used for pasture land.
Topography within the mitigation bank site is relatively flat, with elevations ranging from approximately 1 to 3 feet above mean sea level, with an elevation change as the property slopes upward along the western boundary toward Battle Creek Ridge.
