Baltimore, MARYLAND – April 24, 2019 – Ecosystem Investment Partners (EIP) and its local partners: Cecil Land Trust (CLT); Wetland Studies (WSSI); Cecil County Government; Cecil Soil Conservation District; Natural Resources Conservation Service; Department of Natural Resources (DNR); Appalachian Stream Restoration; the Crothers Family, the Horst Family; and the Zartler Family, gathered to celebrate the completion of the partnership’s second Cecil County based restoration project benefiting the Chesapeake Bay Watershed.
Through an innovative pay-for-success contract between EIP and Maryland’s Bay Trust Fund where EIP invested capital up-front and assumed the risk of successful completion, EIP, in conjunction with CLT and its other partners, were able to reduce nutrient and sediment discharges to the Chesapeake Bay by restoring the water quality and habitat value of approximately 14,487 linear feet of stream and 30.9 acres of riparian buffers on the Zartler Property along Principio Creek, a significant tributary of the Upper Chesapeake Bay in Cecil County. This project is one of the largest projects of its kind with total anticipated nutrient and sediment reductions of 17,473 pounds of nitrogen, 679 pounds of phosphorus and 973 tons of sediment per year. These reductions will positively impact the region and the Chesapeake Bay for the foreseeable future.
Each partner brought their own unique expertise to the project enabling success for all. This project would not have been possible without the planning, financial support, oversight, knowledge, skills, patience, perseverance, hard work and cooperation from everyone involved. An additional benefit from this project is that Cecil County will also receive nutrient reduction credits which will assist in meeting impervious area restoration requirements contained within the County’s Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) permit while also working towards compliance with Watershed Implementation Plan goals.
Cecil Land Trust and its partners have worked together to execute several restoration projects in Cecil County that will continue to improve the water quality and habitat value of the Chesapeake Bay for years to come and are committed to pursuing similar stream restoration projects. The partnership is currently restoring over 50,000 linear feet of streams in the Little Elk, North East, and Furnace Bay watersheds with a completion date of March 2020.
About Ecosystem Investment Partners
Ecosystem Investment Partners (“EIP”) is a private company investing in large-scale ecological restoration projects nationwide. EIP delivers the highest quality ecological restoration and conservation projects in the United States. Through its investment funds, it acquires, restores and permanently protects priority conservation properties, and sells the credits generated to customers who must offset their unavoidable environmental impacts.
Over the past decade, EIP has protected and restored regionally significant properties in the U.S.–providing both a return to investors and lasting environmental benefits. With $500 million in assets under management and over 57,000 acres owned, EIP is a national leader in large-scale ecological restoration. To date, EIP has developed 40 mitigation banks and a number of other restoration projects in eleven states, including over 43,000 acres of wetland restoration and 150 miles of stream restoration completed. EIP’s national footprint continues to expand with another 6,800 acres of wetland restoration and 117 miles of stream mitigation under permitting and construction in 2019.
