The EPA has a Mitigation Bank Fact Sheet that explains why banks are required, what a prospective bank looks like, and how a completed bank compensates for unavoidable environmental impacts from development or energy exploration. The 46 banks permitted in 1992 soared to more than 1800 banks in late 2013.

The fact sheet shares how mitigation banks are far superior to permittee-responsible compensatory mitigation and how banking represents an increasingly important economic component of the environmental consulting economic sector.

Then read how Trout Headwaters has helped landowners to preserve and improve their property while generating income from that restoration work:  Mitigation & Ecosystem Banking Primer