Established in January 2006, the Martin Creek Mitigation Bank (MCMB) is a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) approved, privately owned and operated wetland mitigation bank and nature preserve. MCMB’s primary purpose is to provide businesses, communities, state and federal agencies, and others access to economical, time-saving and liability-free mitigation. Mitigation requirements result from public and private activities that impact regulated wetlands and other waters of the United States as defined in The Clean Water Act. Simply stated, many construction and other projects impact waters of the United States and are required to acquire an authorization from the USACE. Included in the authorization process is a requirement to mitigate or “offset” impacts with mitigation . . . and this is where the MCMB provides the service of providing preapproved mitigation credits in a timely manner and with no long-term liability.

Examples of construction and other projects that typically use mitigation credits include: road construction, transmission lines, oil and gas exploration, pipeline installations, lignite mining, shopping center parking lots and housing subdivisions. Although these may seem like day-to-day activities, behind what you see there is a web of regulatory requirements dealing with wetlands and other waters of the United States.

MCMB services a primary and a secondary area. The primary area is in the Sabine River basin and includes all of Panola and Shelby counties; and portions of Gregg, Harrison, Hopkins, Nacogdoches, Rains, Rusk, Sabine, San Augustine, Smith, Upshur and Wood Counties. The secondary service area is in the Neches and Big Cypress-Sulphur River basins and includes all of Angelina, Camp, Cass, Cherokee, Franklin, Hopkins, Marion, Morris and Titus counties; and the eastern halves of Van Zandt, Anderson, Henderson and Houston counties.

Other MCMB services include mitigation planning, eco-tours, environmental education in an outdoor setting, rare-plant photographic opportunities and research.