The Bear Point Mitigation Bank offers secure and beneficial environmental credits that help to improve the health of the Indian River Lagoon. It is a St. Lucie County mangrove saltwater marsh that  has operated successfully along the Lagoon near Fort Pierce since 2003.

Details

Managed by St. Lucie County and the St. Lucie Mosquito Control District, the 317-acre Mitigation Bank has been restored and enhanced in order to provide compensation for unavoidable impacts to aquatic resources in this region of Florida. The bank, permitted by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, sells Mangrove Forested credits that are valued in terms of the ecological value of the Mitigation Bank. The funds collected are used to preserve and maintain wetland habitat as a way of sustaining the ecological and hydrological functions of the Indian River Lagoon.   

Service Area

The primary service covers the barrier islands and mainland Indian River waterfront from the Sebastian Inlet on the north to the St. Lucie Inlet on the south. As of summer 2019, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection is allowing credits to be purchased in some situations for wetland impacts outside the primary service area.

Bear Point Mitigation Bank Credit Purchase/Reservation Procedure 

A request by email is required to initiate agreements for Bear Point Mitigation Bank credits. Submit to Lauri Heistermann, Executive Assistant, St. Lucie Mosquito Control, at heistermannl@stlucieco.org. 

The following information must be included in the written request: 

• The number of credits being requested (credits are sold/reserved in tenths of a unit only) 
• If the credit is being purchased or reserved 
• The type of credit being requested (State, Federal or Dual) 
• Project name 

Once the request is received, it will be forwarded to the County Attorney’s Office to initiate a Purchase/Reservation Agreement. 

Once completed the Purchase/Reservation agreement will be sent to the requestor for execution. Four (4) original agreements will be required to be submitted to the County Attorney’s Office, with payment, for final execution and Board of County Commissioner’s approval. 

Payment Calculations

Purchase Price 

• Dual Credits - $36,000/tenth of a credit 
• Federal or State Credits - $18,000.00/tenth of a credit 

Reservation Price 

• Dual Credits - $9,000/tenth of a credit 
• Federal or State Credits - $4,500.00/tenth of a credit 

The purchase price is based on the annual appraised value of each credit, which is $180,000.00. The reservation price is 25% of the total cost of the credit. 

Once the agreement has been fully executed, and approved by the Board of County Commissioners or the County Administrator, the agreement will be issued a contract number and a fully executed copy will be forwarded to the requestor. 

The requestor should submit copies of the applicable state and/or federal permits to the Mosquito Control Department to debit the appropriate ledgers. The permitting agencies will consider the mitigation requirement complete once the agencies’ ledger(s) have been debited.