Over the past 20 years, SMC staff have reviewed nearly 500 permit applications in which 154 acres of IWLC were impacted. The Lake County Watershed Development Ordinance (WDO) regulations required “mitigation” (new and/or improved wetlands) for many of the impacted IWLC. Using a minimum replacement ratio of 1.5 to 1 has resulted in 212 acres of mitigation wetlands. This represents a net gain of about 58 acres of additional wetlands throughout the county!
This means our county has 58 more acres of wetland to help reduce flood risk! Those additional 58 acres of wetlands provide an additional 58 million gallons of flood water storage.
Many SMC-permitted developments also preserved IWLC on their sites, totaling about 790 acres. Together, the mitigation and preserved wetlands provide almost 850 million gallons of flood water storage throughout Lake County. This helps reduce the risk of flood damages in many vulnerable areas.
Thank you, SMC and Lake County, for protecting our valuable isolated wetland resources over the last 20 years and for future years–that’s something to celebrate!