Copperas Stream Mitigation Bank

Location

Logan County, WV

Resource

Stream

Solution

Mitigation Bank

Status

Approved

Kevin Roush

Assistant Director of Business Development

COPPERAS STREAM MITIGATION BANK is located in the coalfields of scenic Logan County, West Virginia. Over several years of restoration work, EIP restored the Bank’s degraded streams by decommissioning and relocating roads, enhanced headwater and valley bottom streams by adding woody material and removing berms that cut off floodplain flow, and re-established riparian buffers. All of this work allowed native flora and fauna to proliferate — including, for the first time in West Virginia’s history, a rare and critically imperiled plant species called Appalachian rosinweed (Silphium wasiotense).

EIP also partnered with the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources (DNR) to provide 4,391 acres associated with the Copperas bank to expand a state Wildlife Management Area (WMA). At this newly minted Tomblin Wildlife Management Area, the DNR re-established elk (Cervus canadensis) herds. Once native in West Virginia, elk were extirpated in the 1800s. In part through EIP’s restoration, they are now thriving here. EIP’s site will now help elk herds grow, protect key habitat areas, and improve public access.

Credit purchases from Copperas Mitigation Bank support a diverse range of projects in West Virginia, including road construction, mining, and public infrastructure.

READ MORE
West Virginia’s Elk Herd Adds 15 Calves in 2020
Sept 19, 2020 | WV Division of Natural Resources

CREDITS AVAILABLE
Stream

SERVICE AREA
Primary HUC 8 Watershed
– Upper Guyandotte (05070101)
Secondary HUC 8 Watersheds
– Tug Fork (05070201)
– Lower Guyandotte (05070102)
– Twelvepole (05090102)
– Big Sandy (05070204)
– Coal (05050009)
– Lower New (05050004)
– Middle New (05050002)

Copperas Mitigation Bank

This pre-restoration photo shows typical stream baseline conditions with excessive sedimentation in the stream channel.

Copperas Mitigation Bank

In conjunction with our local partners, EIP reconstructs streams with heavy machinery.

Copperas Mitigation Bank

Following restoration, streambanks are strengthened as vegetation begins to emerge in riparian buffers.

Copperas Mitigation Bank

Today this stream has returned to a state of vitality, and its habitats are enriched with diverse flora and fauna.

Copperas Mitigation Bank

Strategically placed log cascades provide grade control, bedform diversity, and aquatic habitat.

Copperas Mitigation Bank

Appalachian rosinweed (Silphium wasiotense), a rare and critically imperiled species, blooms on the site for the first time in West Virginia's history.

Copperas Mitigation Bank

Among other native plants on the site, Blue lobelias (Loebalia siphilitica) bloom at Copperas Mitigation Bank.

Across Appalachia, restored streams are bringing back flora and fauna

View Spotlight
ASR Appalachian Stream Restoration

Our Partners

Appalachian Stream Restoration & Reclamation Specialists, an industry leader in central Appalachia, contributed key construction experience and regional knowledge as we’ve partnered with them to restore streams across West Virginia and Maryland. ASR’s equipment operators include many individuals who transitioned their skills seamlessly from mining to stream restoration, with creativity and dedication.

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Civil & Environmental Consultants Inc. partnered with EIP’s national team, applying their regional expertise in stream ecology, design, and permitting to multiple mitigation banks we developed together across West Virginia.

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