Werner, Frederick T.Jensen, Richard W. Russell W. Kiesling, and Frank S. ShipleyProceedings: The Second State of the Bay Symposium. February 4 - 6, 19932010-02-152010-02-151993http://hdl.handle.net/1969.3/24135pgs. 217-219Mitigation banking is, quite simply, building a wetland forest or marsh and manipulating it for several years until the regulatory community is satisfied that it is successful; i.e., a self-sustaining system that will probably not fail except under most unusual circumstances (hurricane erosion, prolonged flooding or drought, destruction by insect of fungus, etc.). This area then becomes an up-front compensation site from which credits can by taken for unavoidable losses to wetlands from development projects. Such banks can be extremely valuable to small businesses or organizations which lack the resources and technical expertise to build compensation sites for their projects. Mitigation banking has already been identified as a possible strategy for habitat protection around the Galveston Bay system.mitigation bankingwetlandsland reclamationChapter