Lummi Wetland and Habitat Mitigation Bank
To help manage development on its lands, the Lummi Nation created the first tribally operated commercial wetland mitigation bank in the country.
By Honoring Nations
Honoring Nations 2014 Awardee
Lummi Wetland and Habitat Mitigation BankHonoring Nations
Tribal wetlands under threat
The Lummi Nation includes portions of the Nooksack River and Lummi River, their estuaries, and tidelands along the Salish Sea. These areas provide crucial habitat for culturally and ecologically important plants and animals.
Lummi Wetland and Habitat Mitigation BankHonoring Nations
In the 1990s, the Lummi Nation began to worry about the effect of rapid growth on the reservation’s natural resources.
Development on tribal lands and in neighboring towns was threatening the health of area watersheds and affecting salmon and shellfish habitats – resources of critical importance to the Lummi people for commercial, ceremonial, and subsistence reasons.
At the same time, the Lummi Nation faced demands to make reservation land development easier, especially for tribal housing and business development. The Lummi Nation needed to find a way to develop land while also conserving its wetlands.
Balancing development and preservation
The Lummi Nation spent over ten years developing the Lummi Nation Wetland and Habitat Mitigation Bank, a tool that allows the nation to streamline the land permitting process, generate income, and protect crucial land parcels.
Lummi Wetland and Habitat Mitigation BankHonoring Nations
Developers proposing projects on or near the reservation that will affect wetlands apply to buy credits from the Mitigation Bank, which helps preserve land designated by the Lummi Nation and pre-approved by the US Army Corps of Engineers and the US EPA to meet permit conditions.
The Mitigation Bank offers superior wetland and habitat protection and enhancement while also serving as an effective adaptive strategy for sea level rise associated with climate change impacts. Unlike site-specific mitigation projects, the lands are protected and enhanced before development begins to affect the area. This includes intensive monitoring, converting drained lands back to wetlands, replanting native species such as English Ivy and Japanese Knotweed.
Lummi Wetland and Habitat Mitigation BankHonoring Nations
Taking into account both tribal project discounts and the scarcity value of credits as their availability declines, the Lummi Nation estimates that the entire Mitigation Bank is worth over $85 million and has the capacity to offset wetland impacts for the next hundred years.
Lummi Nation priorities
The Mitigation Bank has greatly improved the Lummi Nation’s ability to manage reservation land use. Tribal plans for housing and new enterprises are now easier to initiate and income generated by the sale of the credits flows directly into the Lummi Nation general fund.
Lummi Wetland and Habitat Mitigation BankHonoring Nations
To date, nearly 200 acres of wetlands have been enhanced, and the Lummi have sold $1.7 million in credits to both public and private parties. The revenue stream enables the Lummi Nation to protect its culturally valuable wetland resources while allowing much-needed development.
In establishing the Bank, the nation systematically identified the areas of the reservation that would be protected based on their environmental and cultural significance. The Mitigation Bank provides the legal framework for acquiring and restoring these areas on a large scale. Crucially, the Lummi Nation retains its treaty rights to hunt, fish, gather, and perform ceremonies in the protected areas.
Lummi Wetland and Habitat Mitigation BankHonoring Nations
Bringing the lessons home
Lummi Nation Wetland and Habitat Mitigation Bank is an innovative tool that allows the tribe to meet environmental objectives, facilitate economic development on its reservation, and preserve natural resources that are critically important to Lummi culture and livelihood.
Lesson 1
Creative and integrated management of wetlands can promote cultural values and reframe economic development opportunities.
Lesson 2
Mitigation banks are a proven, cost-effective way to preserve and enhance ecologically and culturally important wetland resources.
Lesson 3
Tribal policies that are administratively effective, technically sound, and legally defensible strengthen tribal sovereignty.
Honoring Nations: 2014 Awardee
Lummi Wetland and Habitat Mitigation Bank
Lummi Nation
This exhibit was curated by the Project on Indigenous Governance and Development, Honoring Nations national awards program. All images were obtained with the permission of the host nation, and gathered during the site visit of the awarding year.
Honoring Nations 2014 Awards Report:
https://hwpi.harvard.edu/files/hpaied/files/lummi_wetland.pdf?m=1639579098
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