The Moses Lake Wetland Mitigation Bank is an 11-acre wetland “bank” site that is between Pioneer Way and Division Streets within the city limits of Moses Lake in Grant County. Development of the bank site involved restoration and enhancement of an existing, urban wetland and included excavation of fill material and construction debris, site clean up and planting of native vegetation. The Moses Lake bank also includes a small trail and viewing platform and provides educational opportunities for wildlife viewing. WSDOT constructed the wetland to provide future mitigation for proposed highway construction projects within the Columbia basin. Planned projects include SR 17 (Pioneer Way to Stratford) capacity improvement project and two highway projects along SR 26.
Construction Summary
The Moses Lake wetland bank site provides WSDOT’s North Central Region “credits” toward meeting wetland mitigation needs. When submitting for project permits requiring wetland mitigation, the Region indicates to the resource agencies that a certain amount of credits from the bank will be used to meet their wetland mitigation requirements. If approved, credits are withdrawn from the bank. This process saves time and money by not having to identify, acquire, construct and monitor a separate mitigation site for each highway construction project that impacts wetlands. The mitigation site also provides educational benefits for the community by allowing public access and educational use.
The bank was constructed with the assistance of WSDOT’s Maintenance Program. The project design called for excavation and hauling of approximately 15,000 cubic yards of soil in order to complete wetland restoration work at the sites. Maintenance staff completed the construction work a training exercise. Over one hundred maintenance employees from across the state were trained in heavy equipment operation while restoring the degraded wetland. The trainees got to work on a real project under some challenging conditions. They also learned about working in sensitive wetland environments. The Region benefited by having the site constructed within budget and on schedule, with the finished product meeting certification by the resource agencies.
WSDOT Contact:
Barb Aberle, WSDOT Environmental Services Office
Phone: 360-705-7518
Email: aberleb@wsdot.wa.gov