FROM FARM TO FOREST: HARRISON CREEK BAY RESTORED FOR-PROFIT AS A MITIGATION BANK IN NC

Harrison Creek Bay is a 4500 acre Carolina bay in Cumberland County, North Carolina. 640 acres of the bay were restored from prior converted cropland to wetland status in 1997 as North Carolina's first large scale for-profit restoration based “mitigation bank.” More than 20 miles of canals and ditches were backfilled in order to return hydrology to the site, after which over 300,000 trees of a dozen native species were planted. Nearing its ten year anniversary the project is regarded as a technical and business success. All the mitigation credits have been sold and the hydrology and vegetation are approaching that of the original wetland prior to drainage in the 1960's. The restored land is permanently protected from alteration by a perpetual conservation easement held by a qualified land conservancy. The bay itself is a rather unique bay feature on the coastal plain. Seemingly one bay, Harrison bay is actually composed of 19 overlapping smaller bays, as was identified by William H. Prouty in the 1940's. This presentation will give an overview of the history of this project, the nature of the bay, and its promise as a template for future restoration efforts of these extraordinary and threatened features.