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Board of Water and Soil Resources warns of wetland credit shortfalls, urges funding to preserve local road projects
Summary
Board of Water and Soil Resources officials told the Senate Capital Investment Committee that statewide wetland-replacement credits are required for local road projects and warned that some bank service areas are projecting credit deficits that could delay construction.
John Jasky, executive representative for the Board of Water and Soil Resources (BWSR), and Andrea Fish, assistant director, told the Senate committee that the state's local government roads wetland replacement program needs continued capital support to ensure wetland credits remain available for road projects.
Fish explained that local road authorities use wetland credits to offset wetlands that will be impacted by road construction, and that BWSR's centralized program generates replacement wetlands at scale and issues credits after project planning, construction and monitoring. She said it can take eight to ten years from appropriation to final release of credits and that some bank service areas are projecting deficits.
Committee members asked about scale and funding. Fish said a recent work group recommended placing the program in the bonding bill to ensure stable, predictable funding. During questioning, senators referenced a projected $26 million amount that would be needed statewide to address the identified credit shortfall; Fish and Jasky acknowledged that certain bank service areas face deficits and said the customary statewide bonding appropriation has been the long-standing source of funding for the program.
BWSR also outlined its state-federal conservation partnership (often known to practitioners as a CREP/CRP arrangement) under the Reinvest in Minnesota statute. Jasky said recent updates to the federal agreement expanded eligible areas and practices and that state funds can leverage substantial federal dollars for easements and restoration; agency staff said $9.3 million in state funding can generate a larger amount of federal investment under the program's current leverage arrangement.
Senator Dibble and others pressed whether the program's request amount was adequate. Fish said $3.6 million was on one program slide and noted a separate analysis showing a $26 million need to fully overcome anticipated credit deficits; she and Jasky said the committee would receive that longer report and fact sheet documenting the analysis. BWSR asked the committee to consider bonding appropriation to sustain the local roads wetland replacement program and to support the conservation reserve enhancement (CREP) match that leverages federal funds.
No formal votes were taken; BWSR asked for continued legislative support to avoid delays to road projects that rely on wetland-credit availability.
