Big Sandy Mitigation Bank
Location
Lawrence County, KY
Resource
Stream
Solution
Mitigation Bank
Status
Approved
Kevin Roush
Assistant Director of Business Development
BIG SANDY MITIGATION BANK is one of eight properties spanning 5,068 acres across eastern Kentucky where EIP is restoring ecological functions to degraded streams. Before EIP’s initiative, the artificially straightened channels, active erosion, and degraded riparian buffers severely impacted the water quality and habitat value of these systems. EIP has restored a more natural pattern, profile, and dimension to these streambeds, bringing back a meandering course with stable channel configuration — all permanently protected with a conservation easement. Along with Little Sandy Mitigation Bank, Big Sandy is one of two EIP stream restoration projects in this service area.
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Credits from Big Sandy Mitigation Bank are approved by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to fulfill mitigation requirements of Section 404 Clean Water Act permits. Credit purchases also promote large-scale conservation and restoration of Kentucky’s stream corridors for future generations.
CREDITS
Stream
SERVICE AREA
Portions of USACE Pre-Defined Service Areas 9 and 10, including HUC 8 Watersheds
– Ohio Brush-Whiteoak (0509020)
– Little Scioto-Tygarts (05090103)
– Little Sandy (05090104)
– Big Sandy (05070204)
– Lower Levisa (05070203)
– Tug (0507020)
– Upper Levisa (05070202)
Our Partners
Beaver Creek Hydrology’s expert team understands the complexities of stream restoration and addresses them with the highest degree of innovation and creativity. They work with EIP to help us design our large-scale stream restoration projects across Appalachia. BCH, one of the leading stream design firms in the country, invented the natural channel design software, BANKFULL, that efficiently tackles our large-scale projects. They have published and presented widely about hydrologic and hydraulic modeling.
Stream Restoration Specialists, based in Corbin, Kentucky, is one of the best stream builders in the industry. EIP has worked on multiple projects with SRS’s expert construction team. Their team members from a range of backgrounds, including former road builders, coal miners, and self-taught stream contractors, are efficient, self-sufficient, and top-notch with project logistics and scheduling. Working in tandem with both EIP and Beaver Creek Hydrology, SRS’s stream building expertise takes design concepts and turns them into reality.