camp branch
wetland and stream
mitigation bank
Cass County, Missouri
Swallowtail operates an 87-acre wetland and stream mitigation bank located along more than a mile of the Camp Branch of Big Creek south of the Kansas City metropolitan area. The mitigation activities on this property serve as compensation for impacts to wetlands and streams in the western portion of the Osage River watershed within Missouri which encompasses the very west-central part of the state.
Before the Sponsor’s mitigation activities much of this property existed as a mixture of farm fields, stream corridors and bottomland woods. The landscape position of this site within the floodplain has resulted in the presence of hydric soils throughout almost all of the property and a large number of small wetlands continued to exist despite many years of agricultural activity. All of these qualities along with relatively thin riparian corridors made this site very suitable for wetland and stream restoration and enhancement.
Camp Branch is listed as potentially impaired by habitat degradation because of rural non-point source pollution, which means that there is some indication of impairment but there is not enough data to properly list the stream as officially impaired. The upper Osage River watershed which includes Camp Branch has been largely converted to agricultural land uses, and stream channelization, levee construction, impoundment and the clearing of riparian corridors have been common practices. These activities have resulted in stream incision, loss of floodplain connectivity, loss of stream and wetland habitats and excess sediment and nutrient levels in waterways.
In response to the needs of the watershed, this mitigation bank includes more than ten acres of floodplain wetlands and in excess of forty acres of newly planted riparian buffer. Existing riparian buffers have been enhanced and almost two miles of streams have been protected on both sides with another third of a mile protected on one side. These additional riparian buffers and wetlands will help to absorb and filter sediment and agricultural pollution from more than 350 acres of adjacent agricultural land that drains across the site and from flood flows from Camp Branch. Additionally, the restored habitats which were constructed in 2009 provide high quality habitat to a number of wildlife species. This site has completed its five-year monitoring timeframe meeting all of its performance standards.