Project Description
Red Stone Farm Wetland Mitigation Bank (RSFWMB) spans three Phases of development. Phases I-III include 457 acres, which were approved by the Army Corps of Engineers, Huntington District, and the Ohio Interagency (OH IRT) on September 2007, 2021, and 2022, respectively. With the addition of a 325-acre wildlife sanctuary on adjoining acreage in the next few years, the Bank will reside within 782 contiguous acres returned to their natural state.
RSFWMB is located in Pike County, Ohio. It reestablishes and rehabilitates over 200 acres of wetlands, as well as preserves and restores surrounding upland buffers. This generates approximately 280 forested and non-forested (emergent) credits, with 140 outstanding. Upland buffers include over 200 acres of mature hillside forest, protecting headwaters and hillside seeps. Construction has been completed for Phases I-III and credits are being released accordingly.
The OH IRT recognizes RSFWMB as an appropriate location for mitigation of Category 2 wetlands within the Lower Scioto River (HUC# 05060002), Paint Creek (HUC# 05060003), Ohio Brush Creek (HUC# 05090201), and East Fork Little Miami River (HUC# 05090202) watersheds, and the mitigation of Category 1 wetlands within the Huntington Corps District in the state of Ohio. On a case-by-case basis, mitigation for impacts outside this service area can be approved by the Corps and OEPA, in consultation with other members of the IRT.
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Swamp rosemallow (Hibiscus moscheutos)
Breaking drainage tile and installing bare-root trees and shrubs
Phases of Development
In Spring 2024, Phase I will enter its 16th growing season; Phase II will start its third growing season; and Phase III will begin its second growing season, as constuction and wetland re-establishment, rehabilitation, and upland buffer plantings have been completed.
Construction and restoration activities have involved decomissioning miles of drainage tile, lowering two dams of a former lake, regrading earthen impediments, and managing beaver activity, all to restore wetland hydrology.
Since bank approval in 2007, Red Stone has installed over 135,000 native bare-root tree and shrub seedlings through hand and mechanical plantings. Over 10,000 live stakes have been harvested on-site and pounded into depressions and stream banks. Over 3,000 lbs. of locally collected native wetland and upland herbaceous seeds have been spread. Plant species chosen for reforestation and rehabilitation of wetlands and upland buffers were determined by examining existing Category 2 and 3 forested wetland plants on-site. Species selected were additionally informed by historical plant distribution maps, published in Lucy Braun's The Woody Plants of Ohio (1961).
Species such as swamp white oak (Quercus bicolor), pin oak (Quercus palustris), shellbark hickory (Carya laciniosa), river birch (Betula nigra), sweet gum (Liquidambar styraciflua), sycamore (Platanus occidentalis), black willow (Salix nigra), persimmon (Diospyrus virginiana), buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis), swamp rose (Rosa palustris), silky dogwood (Cornus amomum), arrowwood (Viburnum dentatum) and fifteen (15) other tree and shrub species make up the diversity of installed woody species. Herbaceous species such as green-headed coneflower (Rudbeckia laciniata) , blue vervain (Verbena hastata), swamp aster (Aster puniceus), swamp rose-mallow (Hibiscus moscheutos), boneset (Eupatorium perfoliatum), hollow-stemmed Joe Pye weed (Eupatorium fistulosum), swamp lousewort (Pedicularis lanceolata), woolgrass (Scirpus cyperinus), black bulrush (Scirpus atrovirens), fringed sedge (Carex crinita), fox sedge (Carex vulpinoidea), hop sedge (Carex lupulina), and many other forbs and graminoids were additionally installed.
The above wetland and upland reforestation/rehabilitation plantings enhance quality of habitat at the site. Native seed bank and volunteer species such as red maple (Acer rubrum), green ash (Fraxinus pennsylvanica), American elm (Ulmus americana), rice cutgrass (Leersia oryzoides), soft rush (Juncus effusus), giant ragweed (Ambrosia trifida) and other early successional plant species also colonize the locale to meet required performance standards.
Detailed results from maintaining and monitoring wetlands and buffers are reviewed by the Corps and OH IRT bi-annually. Effectiveness of revegetation and hydrology restored to the site are reported, including management of invasive plant species and other adaptative measures taken to comply with criteria for oversight.