The Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) is excited to announce a proposed statewide in-lieu fee (ILF) mitigation program, Indiana’s Stream & Wetland Mitigation Program (IN SWMP). In the fall of 2013, the Indiana Department of Natural Resource (IDNR), with assistance from the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) and IDEM initiated the approval process for establishing the state’s first stream and wetland in-lieu fee compensatory mitigation program.
The IDNR ILF program, when established, will provide stream and wetland mitigation credits that can be used for compensatory mitigation for unavoidable impacts to waters of the United States and isolated wetlands in the State of Indiana. Permits are required by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) in accordance with Section 10 of the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899 (33 USC 403) for work in or affecting traditionally navigable “waters of the United States” and in accordance with Section 404 of the Clean Water Act (CWA) for the discharge of dredged and/or fill material into “waters of the U.S.”, and by IDEM under Section 401 Water Quality Certification of the CWA and Indiana’s Isolated Wetlands law (Indiana Code 13-18-22).