Terrestrial Compensatory Mitigation Contracting Strategy
The Sites Project Authority (Authority) and the Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) have secured or will soon secure certain key state and federal environmental authorizations (collectively, the Resource Agency Permits) required for construction of the Sites Reservoir Project (Project). The Resource Agency Permits, and the requirements of the Final EIR/EIS, include numerous measures requiring the avoidance and minimization of impacts to Protected Terrestrial Resources and, for those impacts which are unavoidable, the implementation of mitigation projects to compensate for the impacted resource values (compensatory mitigation). In fact, the Project’s largest construction mitigation cost is expected to be compensatory mitigation for Protected Terrestrial Resources. Because implementing large-scale compensatory mitigation of any kind is a complex endeavor, let alone on the scale proposed for the Project, the Authority has developed a Terrestrial Mitigation Contracting Strategy (Mitigation Strategy) to assure that its mitigation effort is well-coordinated, timely, efficient, and effective.
This draft Mitigation Contracting Strategy is now being provided for further industry feedback. Feedback on this draft strategy will be taken by June 11, 2025 and should be emailed to info@sitesproject.org. After this date, the Authority team will revise the contracting strategy in consideration of this feedback and prepare a final strategy for the Authority Board and Reservoir Committee consideration for adoption.
For the purpose of continuing to maintain fair and equitable competition as the Authority prepares to solicit a contractor for these services, the Authority requests that the mitigation industry not have verbal communications with the Authority or the Authority’s team working on this strategy. Any and all communications should be in writing to the email address above. Please be aware that any written communications may be shared with all of the mitigation industry and/or posted to the Authority’s website.
