Connecticut’s wetlands are of tremendous value to birds and humans alike for wildlife habitat, water quality improvements, and flood storage.
Per the Clean Water Act (CWA)—landmark environmental protection legislation passed in 1972 that applies to all waters of the United States—parties seeking to construct projects (“permittees”) that will have an impact on wetlands must take all reasonable measures to avoid such impacts, to minimize unavoidable impacts, and to provide mitigation for the remaining unavoidable impacts.
On the one hand, permittees could themselves be held responsible for taking on wetland and/or stream mitigation projects, but studies have shown that many mitigation sites in southern New England have a high failure rate because they fail to meet performance standards (Minkin and Ladd, 2003).
For this reason, the National Audubon Society, Inc., through its state office, Audubon Connecticut, became the “sponsor” of a Connecticut “In Lieu Fee” (ILF) program as of 2013. The program allows permittees to pay a fee in lieu of taking on mitigation themselves. Instead, local groups like land trusts, universities, environmental nonprofits, and even state agencies are given the opportunity to apply for and receive grant funding to protect and enhance wetlands.