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Delaney Road Wetland Mitigation Bank
50.90 acres restored, 34.90 mitigation credits
Wetland Banker: Wetland Mitigation of Illinois (WMI)
Land Owner and Long Term Manager:
Gurnee Park District
Susie Kuruvilla
4374 Old Grand Avenue
Gurnee, IL 6003
(847) 599-3744
USACOE Permit 200300519
Land and Water Resources, Inc. teamed up with Ecologic Planning to form Wetland Mitigation of Illinois (WMI). WMI and the Gurnee Park District partnered to develop several parcels of land into a wetland mitigation bank and upland prairie in Gurnee and unincorporated Lake County, Illinois. WMI was responsible for all aspects of the bank from conception, development, financing, permitting, construction, operation, and sales. WMI bought one parcel and Gurnee Park District provided the land on the remainder of the bank site. The bank was divided into three phases.
This bank is a private-public partnership in that WMI and the Gurnee Park District are the beneficiary of profits from the sale of credits in the bank The bank was originally permitted by the Lake County Stormwater Management Commission to compensate for Lake County, non federal jurisdiction wetlands, however in 2003 the Corps approved the bank for federal jurisdictional wetlands.
The site, prior to permitting, was unused fields within the floodplain of the DesPlaines River. Phase A and B were constructed first in 2002 by excavating to bring the ground to the adjacent wetland elevation and removal of invasive species from the existing degraded wetland areas. These areas were then seeded. Phase C was initially graded in 2005 and seeded in 2006 and again in 2007. Management activities at the site included aggressive herbiciding of invasive species, mowing and burning.
The Gurnee Park District will use the site as a natural area. WMI was able to create and sell 33.63 acres of wetland mitigation credits to offset wetland impact.
In all, over 83 plant species have been identified at the site. Of these, over 90% are native species. Within wet prairie and emergent zones, native wetland and prairie species accounted for over 91% of the dominance at the site. Phase A and B have received final sign off from the regulatory agencies and now is exclusively managed by the Park District.