Crossover Assets™
Investing in Environmental Assets and Biodiversity

Glossary


Bank – see Conservation Bank and Wetland Mitigation Bank.

Biodiversity – the variation of life forms within a given ecosystem, biome, or for the entire Earth.

CERCLA – the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act of 1980.

Conservation Easement – a conservation easement is an encumbrance on usage rights which creates a legally enforceable land preservation agreement between a landowner and a government agency.

Conservation Bank – a single or a series of contiguous or non-contiguous parcels of threatened and endangered species habitat that are managed for their natural resource values.

Credit – see Mitigation Credit.

Crossover AssetsTM – real property or other natural resources that have intrinsic but unrealized environmental and/or ecological value due to hydrology, function, biodiversity, habitats, topography, location, historical use, restoration potential or other similar characteristics.

CWA – the Clean Water Act of 1972.

Endangered Species – a species whose numbers are so small that the species is at risk of extinction.

Environmental Assessment – an assessment of the possible impact--positive or negative--that a proposed project may have on the environment, together consisting of the natural, social and economic aspects.

Environmental Impact – the effect of an activity or substance on the environment.

EPA – the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

ESA – the Endangered Species Act of 1973.

Final Rule – the 2008 Compensatory Mitigation for Losses of Aquatic Resources; Final Rule.

Fishery – the aquatic region in which a certain species of fish lives.

Habitat – an ecological or environmental area that is inhabited by a particular species of animal, plant or other type of organism.

Hydrology – the scientific study of the properties, distribution, and effects of water on the earth's surface, in the soil and underlying rocks, and in the atmosphere.

ILF – in lieu fee programs which typically are private mitigation programs run by state or not-for-profit entities.

IRT – the inter-agency review team consisting of representatives of the USACE, EPA, USFWS, etc. and that are responsible for approval of an MBI and oversight of mitigation banking project.

MBI – the Mitigation Banking Instrument setting forth plan for preserving and restoring property.

Mitigation – the process of replacing the lost function associated with a protected resource.

Mitigation Credit – a transferable and saleable right granted to an operator of a Wetland Mitigation Bank or a Conservation Bank in exchange for the restoration and preservation conducted on a Bank project.

NOAA – the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

NMFS – the National Marine Fisheries Service.

NPDES – Section 402 of the CWA (providing for the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System.

NRD – natural resource damages.

NRDARP – the Natural Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration Program.

OPA – the Oil Pollution Act of 1990.

OW – the EPA’s Office of Water.

Permittee – a public or private entity, developing a project which will impact a protected resource.

Rivers and Harbors Act – the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899.

Self-Mitigate – process by which person or entity impacting a wetland, stream or protected species habitat seeks to mitigate such impact itself.

Service Area – the geographic region in which Credits may be sold.

Superfund – another term for the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act of 1980.

Threatened Species – a species that is not in immediate danger of extinction, but without protection will likely become endangered in the foreseeable future.

Topography – the configuration of a surface and the relations among its man-made and natural features.

TDR – transferable development rights are a form of tradable easement whereby a landowner chooses to protect biodiversity-rich land from development through conservation.

TMDL – Total Maximum Daily Loads are the leading market drivers for WQT and are defined as the maximum amount of a pollutant that a water body can receive and still meet federal water quality standards.

USACE – the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

USFWS – the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Water Quality – the physical, chemical and biological characteristics of water as affected by natural processes and human activities.

Water Rights – the right of a user to use water from a water source, such as a river, stream, pond or source of groundwater.

Wetland – areas that are inundated or saturated by surface or groundwater at a frequency and duration sufficient to support, and that under normal circumstances do support, a prevalence of vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated soil conditions.

Wetland Mitigation Bank – an operation in which wetlands, uplands and/or other aquatic resources are restored, created, enhanced, or preserved by a mitigation bank operator, for the purpose of providing compensatory mitigation for disturbances to freshwater wetlands and/or open waters.

WQT – water quality trading.

WRDA – the Water Resources Development Act of 2007.


 

ADDRESS 3715 Northside Parkway STE 2-500 | Atlanta, GA 30327
PHONE 404.848.7500 EMAIL info@timbervest.net


Home | Crossover AssetsTM | Portfolio | Team | Articles | Glossary | Contact | Timbervest Website