On March 13, 2013, WSSI hosted the first Wetland Studies/Peterson Foundation Mitigation Banking Research Symposium. This event reached capacity within 24 hours of announcing it to the public (nearly 120 attendees), including leadership from a multitude of regulatory and state agencies, such as EPA, USACE (multiple districts), Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, Virginia Department of Transportation, District Department of the Environment, and the Maryland Department of the Environment.

In addition, a large contingent of university and industry representatives was in attendance to learn about research that was funded by the Wetlands Research Initiative (WRI) and discuss mitigation design and permitting challenges faced by both the government and private sectors.

Presentations were made throughout the day by professors and students from Christopher Newport University, Duke, George Mason University, Old Dominion University, Penn State, Virginia Tech, and the Virginia Institute of Marine Sciences, who were all recipients of WRI grants. Additionally, attendees were treated to presentations by the EPA and USACE Engineering Development Center on new wetland assessment tools and federal support to compensatory mitigation.

A complete video of this conference is now housed on WSSI's new WRI website, along with publications, presentations and other research materials that have been developed under the WRI.

For more information on the WRI or mitigation banking, contact Mike Rolband or Janice Cessna.