"Mitigation" is generally defined as those actions taken to avoid, minimize, or compensate for losses to natural resources?including wildlife?caused by development and other "permitted" activity. ?The requirement to provide compensatory mitigation is most often set forth in permit, license or other authorization that allows the development or other?activity to proceed. The topic will be featured during a Special Session?"Mitigation Funding in Wildlife Conservation: Does Anyone Have a Plan"?at the 76^th North American Wildlife and Natural Resources Conference next month in Kansas City Missouri.

One traditional method of satisfying a mitigation requirement is the?payment of a fee or other monetary assessment. In theory, these types of payments are managed and applied to projects designed to offset the relevant losses. ?Compensatory mitigation funding may be directed on a project-by-project basis in an attempt to offset the specific types of loss caused by a particular project?or, alternatively, compensation funds for multiple projects may be pooled and applied to larger-scale?projects intended to reap more systemic conservation benefits.

Mitigation funding for wetlands and wildlife currently is estimated to exceed $4 billion per year. These funds flow to or through at least four federal departments and numerous agencies, more than 85 state agencies, and dozens of nongovernment organizations. Despite?the massive resources in play, overall coordination of mitigation funds across all the disparate stakeholders is something that occurs?only rarely. Coordination efforts are further complicated by differing legal requirements, agency missions, trustee interests, and sometimes competing conservation priorities. It seems self-evident that coordination among mitigation funds, projects and?organizations is essential to maximize their short-term benefits and?long-term impacts. So why isn't this happening?

This Special Session, on Wednesday, March 16, from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon, will examine the current legal and regulatory structure?that gives rise to mitigation funds (primarily in the case of threatened and endangered species, secondarily in the case of wetlands), critique the existing means through which mitigation funds are managed and dispersed, and suggest improvements to the overall process. Examples of innovative, multi-agency, multi-trustee conservation projects will be highlighted. Presenters will discuss potential policy and regulatory changes that may improve coordination and implementation among federal, state, and NGO stakeholders, with the ultimate goal of substantially increasing the conservation benefits of mitigation funding.

The Special Session is cochaired by Tim DiCintio and Stephanie TomCoupe of the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, and Tim Male of Defenders of Wildlife.