Mile High Flood District Mitigation Bank Development

The Mile High Flood District (MHFD) contracted with SWCA Environmental Consultants (SWCA) to support the development of MHFD’s Regional Watershed Plan. MHFD’s Regional Watershed Plan will be used to acquire U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) approval for Permittee-Responsible Mitigation (PRM) sites and establish a basis for MHFD’s proposed single-client umbrella mitigation bank. The district-wide Regional Watershed Plan would identify watershed projects that meet specific environmental and social needs in the Denver metropolitan region and justify MHFD’s ability to satisfy USACE requirements for mitigation bank sites (to be included as part of the umbrella mitigation bank) or for a PRM site. Under a separate, concurrent contract, SWCA has been retained to complete and submit a final umbrella mitigation bank prospectus to the USACE. This umbrella mitigation bank prospectus includes detailed information regarding multiple sites within the MHFD’s service area; includes reasons why these sites should be considered for compensatory mitigation; it employs the most recent methodologies for determining credit types and quantities; it is consistent with the Colorado Mitigation Procedures; and it details the proposed long term site protection measures.