Wetlands mitigation banking, a concept endorsed by former President Bush as a means to achieve the goal of no net loss of wetlands, is a valuable resource management tool that deserves the support of the Clinton Administration. Wetlands mitigation banking, which provides for the advance compensation of wetlands losses due to development activities, offers an opportunity to show that environmental protection and economic development are not necessarily incompatible. Indeed, mitigation banking may help resolve, or at least alleviate, the tension between protecting private property rights and preserving wetlands.

In its simplest terms, wetlands mitigation banking involves restoring, enhancing, creating, or preserving wetlands to offset the impacts of a future project. Credit for these environmentally beneficial actions is, in effect, banked until needed. The credit is later withdrawn to satisfy the mitigation requirements of federal, state, or local permits. In a more complex scenario, an individual or entity that has accumulated credits may sell them to third parties which in turn use them to satisfy their own mitigation requirements. Ideally, a market would emerge in which these credits could be bought and sold.