Sports Bar in Dorchester, SC

Deep in the heart of the Brosnan Forest located in Dorchester County, towering longleaf pines stretch across the vast 14,400-acre ecological preserve. The air thickens with the scent of pine needles as damp soil softens underfoot. A cacophony of squawks, chirps and calls echo through the air. In constant battle with the glaring and looming sun above, a team of regulatory specialists from the Charleston District push through and navigate the habitat terrain by foot on a crucial mission.

Their task: to draw the line—quite literally—that separates wetland from upland, and to determine whether this area of the preserve qualifies as wetlands, and therefore as a mitigation bank.

“This decision holds significant weight, as it could play a pivotal role in mitigation banking,” said David Wilson, a lead mitigation expert with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Charleston District.

What is Mitigation Banking

Mitigation banking is a practice that allows for the restoration, creation, or preservation of wetlands in one area to offset environmental impacts elsewhere. If the area qualifies as a wetland, it could be used to generate credits for mitigation projects, supporting ecosystem restoration and conservation efforts across the region.

“It's an entire new world of banking -- balancing development and nature,” said Wilson, an 11-year veteran with USACE in Charleston.

When applying for a permit with the Corps, if the proposed project cannot avoid or sufficiently minimize impacts to wetlands or other waters of the U.S., you must compensate for the impacts. Compensatory mitigation provides methods to offset these unavoidable losses due to project impacts and include the restoration, establishment, enhancement, and/or preservation of aquatic resources.

There are three ways to provide compensatory mitigation: mitigation banks, in-lieu fee programs and permittee-responsible mitigation.

Mitigation banks and in-lieu fee programs are generally the preferred options by the Corps for compensatory mitigation because they typically are larger and involve more financial planning and scientific expertise. The restoration is also done before the impacts. These factors often help reduce the risk of failure of compensatory mitigation projects. With the Corps, it’s an agreement between a regulatory agency or agencies (state, federal, or local) and a sponsor, which can be a public agency, non-profit organization, or private entity.

In a banking instrument, the mitigation sponsor agrees to provide compensation that will be initiated before credits are approved for release by an Interagency Review Team. These credits can then be purchased and used by permittees to offset permitted impacts to aquatic resources. The sponsor does a large, ecologically meaningful project for which it can charge per credit or deduct credits if it is a single-user bank for an entity such as a state Department of Transportation.

The bank then generates credit over time based on meeting set ecologically based performance milestones laid out in the banking instrument. The bank sells credits to developers who need to compensate for the unavoidable impacts of their projects. Developers use the credits to satisfy regulatory requirements, such as compensating for unavoidable wetland losses under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act.

“Mitigation banking is a way to offset the ecological loss of a development project by compensating for the preservation and restoration of a different area,” said Wilson, who received a Master of Science in Environmental Science from the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga.

Typically, mitigation banks include wetlands and streams while conservation banks include habitats of endangered species.

“By approving and providing these mitigation opportunities ahead of time, this cuts out a significant portion of a permit that requires these offsets. This helps our other project managers process permits faster, helps businesses get their permits faster with less risk and burden, stimulates a multi-billion-dollar mitigation industry and helps restore and protect natural areas of the state that otherwise would not be protected. It is a win-win for industry and conservationists,” he said.

Mitigation Banking in Practice

“Our typical projects can range from 300 acres to 3,000 acres,” said Wilson, whose team balances a list of freshwater wetland, stream, and tidal restoration projects covering 20 different counties and a dozen watersheds across three separate ecoregions in the state.

The Charleston District currently has roughly 48 pending mitigation sites and 29 active mitigation sites, including the Brosnan Forest. Brosnan Forest is a beautiful property owned by the Norfolk Southern Corporation with a rich history dating back to the 1830’s. The forest is steeped in conservation, rich in biodiversity and home to one of the most pristine and well managed Old Growth Longleaf Pine forests remaining today.

Brosnan Forest Mitigation Bank and Coldwater Branch Mitigation Banks are both incredibly successful projects completed in 2017 and 2023, respectively. Together those projects restored nearly 800 acres of wetlands and 34,000 feet of streams.

“We support cutting edge research and public education,” said Joel Wells, Brosnan Forest facility director. “Our mission is to promote sustainable land stewardship practices to engage and benefit our stakeholders through recreation, corporate development and appreciation for innovative natural resource management.” “Brosnan Forest has seen the return of Bald Eagles, Wood Storks, Rosette Spoonbills, countless waterfowl, and hosts numerous other plant and wildlife species as a direct result of these projects,” said Wells.

The negative effects of downstream flooding and sediment inputs are diminished in these project sites. According to Wells, through ongoing research efforts with the state’s land grant universities, they are quantifying the exact impacts of these mitigation projects as well as the benefits from novel forest grazing land management strategies in upland areas.

“Our interest in mitigation banking is driven primarily by our desire to exercise the highest and best practices in the restoration of quality functioning ecosystems that benefit the natural environment, the wildlife who inhabit the environment and to support smart development by providing quality mitigation opportunities,” said Wells. According to Wells, there is a long-standing positive relationship with USACE.

“They have been helpful throughout the process of developing each of the banks and instrumental in the development of the Brosnan Forest Umbrella Mitigation Bank,” said Wells. “We rely on the guidance of the Corps and the partnership we share in progressing these projects to support and benefit our environment, the state of South Carolina, and its citizens.”

Brosnan Forest has five remaining watersheds. “Our intent is to complete the full restoration of wetland and stream components in each of those watersheds under the Brosnan Forest Umbrella Mitigation Bank,” said Wells.

Balancing Conservation and Progress

“Without the mitigation program and mitigation bank, project costs would go up, permit processing times would significantly increase, and we would have a difficult time offsetting impacts appropriately,” said Wilson.

As the USACE team and partners survey the vast landscape, the delicate interplay between water and earth unfolds before them—a constant shifting boundary that, like the wetlands themselves, is both elusive and ever-present. Their search for clarity becomes an adventure, where every twist in the terrain and the strains of moist sand sifting through the fingertips provides a clue leading them closer to a decision.

As the team moves through the dense underbrush, the weight of their decision presses on them—each step in the swampy earth carries the potential to shape the future of the ecosystem. In the thick, humid air of the Brosnan Forest, they aren't just drawing a line on a map—they're drawing the boundaries of a new world where conservation and progress must coexist.

In the end, the true measure of their work will not just be found in credits or projects, but in the quiet persistence of the land itself, and in the knowledge that, through careful stewardship, we can nurture both the earth and its future.

DORCHESTER COUNTY, S.C. (WCSC) - One bridge closure in Dorchester County has been causing travel headaches for drivers living around Horseford Road.

The Horseford Road Bridge, located over Four Hole Swamp, was deemed unsafe by the South Carolina Department of Transportation because of the condition of the timber piles that hold the bridge up.

Residents say the bridge has been closed for well over a year now and nothing has been done.

“Overlooked” and “fearful of what could happen” are among the feelings some Dorchester County residents like Nicole King say they are experiencing.

“I have a young son who’s… gotten very sick before and I have to take him to the hospital. I’m pregnant, anything could happen and I mean we have to add time to our commute now or the emergency vehicles have to add time to get out here,” King says.

Nicole King is a pregnant mother who says the Horseford bridge connects her home to the local volunteer fire department.

With its closure, the fire department will need to add several extra minutes to get to her if anything happens during her pregnancy, to her family or to her 8-year-old son.

Along with this, she says she is due in less than a month and her trip to the hospital, a time where every minute counts, will take longer with this bridge closure.

“I feel like we have to just go around everybody else and… it aggravates me, it aggravates my husband, it aggravates everybody out here because I mean, you never know when something’s going to happen. I have to add time to my already hustled time,” King says.

She says she feels as though her and her community are being ignored since they are located in rural Dorchester County and not in the city.

“I feel like, way out here, we’re last priority, but we’re paying the same amount of taxes and paying the same amount of everything as everybody else,” King says.

Although residents say this project is taking a while to complete, SCDOT representatives say they have plans to improve and reopen the bridge.

They are currently in the Right of way Acquisition phase, with construction to projected to begin in the summer of 2026, taking 18 months to complete.

The project involves expanding both 10-foot travel lanes by one foot as well.

To find updates on this project, click here.

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