Endangered Species Act: Fee-Based Mitigation Arrangements
Abstract
Eight types of fee-based arrangements are currently used at the locations we visited. However, because the Service has no national database that summarizes all the fee-based arrangements currently in place, there may be other types of arrangements used at unvisited locations. The eight arrangements we found vary widely in size and complexity but include millions of dollars set aside for species protection activities. Seven of these arrangements require the landowner to act. Under these seven arrangements, the landowner (1) buys land outside the project area; (2) sets aside land already owned and pays a third party to manage it; (3) pays a third party to buy and/or manage land outside the project area; (4) buys credits in a conservation bank; 4 (5) pays a fee into a fund that a third party will use later to buy and manage habitat; (6) pays a fee into a water depletion fund to mitigate adverse impacts caused by withdrawing water; or (7) pays a third party to improve habitat on federal land. In an eighth alternative, for small projects covered by a larger programmatic agreement, a federal agency sets aside funding for mitigation in lieu of landowner payments because the administrative costs of collecting each payment would be greater than the payment itself.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Feb 15, 2001
- Accession Number
- ADA387241
Entities
Organizations
- United States Government Accountability Office