House Bill 111 Summary

• Establishes Chapter 93 of Title 67, Idaho Code to regulate compensatory mitigation for impacts on aquatic resources including wetlands, streams, and riparian areas.

• Establishes mitigation bank credits as the presumed most practicable and ecologically preferable form of compensation for project impacts unless an alternative has been demonstrated otherwise.

• Requires persons using compensatory mitigation alternatives to provide written analysis demonstrating the alternative is ecologically preferable, would not result in significant ecological harm, and achieves no net loss of wetland acreage and functions.

• Mandates that all compensatory mitigation sites must be protected in perpetuity through enforceable protective instruments such as conservation easements.

• Requires copies of project permit applications and compensatory mitigation analyses be provided to applicable mitigation banks before or when submitted to regulatory agencies for their review and comment.