The Hell’s Swamp Mitigation Bank is a privately owned wetland mitigation bank. It was developed to provide compensatory mitigation credits for unavoidable, permitted impacts to wetlands in the state of Alabama. This bank is authorized by the Department of the Army permit pursuant to Section 404 of the Clean Water Act.
The 580-acre site is located in Saraland, in northern Mobile County. Hell’s Swamp Branch flows through the site before converging with Bayou Sara and ultimately into Mobile River. The Hell’s Swamp Mitigation Bank will restore and enhance a total of 417 acres of degraded wetlands. Its close proximity to the Mobile River delta make it ideally suited to improve the water quality and wildlife habitat for two of the fastest growing counties in Alabama.
Normally, the primary service area for mitigation banks is limited to the 8-digit HUC code of the bank. In the case of Hell’s Swamp Mitigation Bank, that is 03160204. However, for banks located in Mobile or Baldwin County, the primary service area includes all of Mobile and Baldwin Counties, regardless of the HUC. A Proximity Factor is applied to projects located outside Mobile and Baldwin Counties. Projects outside of the primary basin (Mobile and Baldwin County or 6-digit HUC 031602) will require approval of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
TOTAL WETLAND CREDIT TYPES AVAILABLE
Bottomland Hardwoods (32 credits) and Pine Savannah (385 credits)
RATIO FOR DETERMINING NUMBER OF CREDITS NEEDED FOR PROPOSED IMPACTS
Low Quality: 1:2
Medium Quality: 1:3
High Quality: 1:4
