About the Michigan Wetland Board
Mission
The vast majority of Michigan’s 83 county road agencies and 530+ municipal road agencies cannot typically fund and manage required wetland mitigation sites. This can delay road projects that require wetland mitigation for unavoidable impacts due to lack of existing mitigation and/or the expertise to create viable mitigation sites.
MiWB resources may be used to preserve, restore or create wetlands. Funding is used to purchase, design, construct, manage and endow sites so that they are preserved and managed in perpetuity. Commercial mitigation sites cost $100,000 to $150,000 per acre credit. MiWB’s costs are typically half this amount. Through the Legislature’s establishment of MTF funding reimbursement via the MiWB, mitigation can occur with no net cost to the road agencies.
History
For decades, the Joint Agency Transportation Committee (JATC) on roads, consisting of the Michigan Departments of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy and Transportation; the County Road Association of Michigan (CRA); and Michigan Municipal League, has recognized that local agencies have no program to assist with this costly environmental regulation. A few larger county road agencies can fund their own wetlands, but the vast majority of local agencies could have delayed projects to fund the mitigation or avoid mitigation costs altogether.
In 2016, Sen. Mike Green secured legislation and a budget to create a Local Agency Wetland Mitigation Fund (named MiWB), fulfilling the JATC vision. The program is funded at $2 million per year off the top of the Michigan Transportation Fund, and capped at $5 million.
Four short years later, MiWB has a seven-member board that has approved bylaws and procedures, hired a wetland manager to run the program and educated road agencies and municipalities statewide.
Team
The Michigan Wetland Board (MiWB) consists of seven (7) volunteer members, per the legislated provisions, as amended, appointed for a two-year term.
From left to right: Tim Wolff, Village of Isabella; Mike O’Malley, MDOT; Rob L, Chippewa CRC; Brad Knight, Road Comm for Oakland Co; Holly Vickers, MiWB Manager; Angela Kline, Calhoun CRC; Steve Puuri, CRA
Not Pictured: Jim Watling, EGLE