Services Area

The service area boundaries for the Machine Lake Area Mitigation Bank (Bank) are shown on Figure 11(See below), and match the service area boundaries shown on the updated Figures 11A, 11B and 11C, 11D, 11E, 11F (See Below). These updates remove the Salt Lake County SAMP, the Tooele County SAMP, and the secondary service area boundary from the service area as part of Amendment No. 1.

Boundary Determinates

As described in more detail under Section 5.5 of the BEI Amendment, the service area boundaries are based on both an ecosystem and watershed approach. This combined approach is consistent with (1) the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) ultimate goal of maintaining and improving the quality and quantity of aquatic resources within watersheds through strategic selection of compensatory mitigation sites (33 CFR Part 332.3(c)) and (2) establishing a service area that is appropriately sized to ensure that the aquatic resources provided will effectively compensate for adverse environmental impacts across the entire service area, while also considering and maintaining the economic viability of the Bank (33 CFR Part 332.8(d)(6)(ii)).

Boundary Locations

The service area boundaries encompass the Great Salt Lake Wetlands Ecosystem following the Gilbert Shoreline of ancient Lake Bonneville around the perimeter of the present-day Great Salt Lake. The elevation of the Gilbert Shoreline is approximately 4,275 feet elevation msl. An exception to the service area boundary is in western Box Elder County at the Great Salt Lake Desert Cut-off. The cut-off excludes the portion of the Gilbert Shoreline that extends westward into the Great Salt Lake Desert and the Hill Air Force Base Utah Test and Training Range (North Area).

The service area boundaries were determined, in part, as a result of requests from the USACE to use a readily definable geographic feature that (1) demarks the Great Salt Lake Wetlands Ecosystem and (2) can be easily used by the public for determining whether potential permitted aquatic resource impacts could be mitigated at the Bank.

The Great Salt Lake is a closed-basin playa lake. There are no water outlets other than evaporation. The HUC 8 watershed unit for the Great Salt Lake basin is 16020310.

The wetland ecosystem that occurs around the narrow perimeter of the lake is sustained by seven HUC 8 watershed units that drain into the Great Salt Lake basin (Figure 11), including:

  • Lower-Bear Malad – 16010204
  • Lower Weber – 16020102
  • Jordan – 16020204
  • Rush Tooele Valleys – 16020304
  • Skull Valley – 16020305
  • North Great Salt Lake Desert – 16020308
  • Curley Valley – 16020309

Figures

The Counties that border the Great Salt Lake, including: Box Elder, Weber, Davis, Salt Lake and Tooele Counties.
11a to 11f provide greater detail on the location of the service area clipped to the boundaries of

The Machine Lake Area Mitigation Bank is located in Box Elder County within the Lower-Bear Malad HUC 8 unit (Figures 11 and 11b).

Credits from the Bank will be eligible for use as compensatory mitigation to off-set impacts to aquatic resources regulated by the USACE, with the exception of excluding all springs. Impact areas should have similar soils and be of the same wetland type to be appropriately mitigated using credits from the Bank.

Credit exchange ratios for impact compensation will be determined by the USACE on a project-by-project basis based on HUC 8 watershed location within the service area, aquatic resource type and other considerations specified in the Corps of Engineers 2008 Final Mitigation Rule (33 CFR Part 332).

Any size of impact within the service area may be mitigated by using credits from the Bank. Mitigation of wetland impacts less than 0.5 acres in size and qualifying for Nationwide Permits can be determined by the USACE without review/input by the Mitigation Bank Review Team (MBRT). Mitigation of wetland impacts between 0.5 and 1.0 acres in size requires the USACE to coordinate with reviewing agencies through the Letter of Permission (LOP) review process. Mitigation of wetland impacts greater than 1.0 acres in size requires the USACE to coordinate with reviewing agencies through Public Notice and the Individual Permit (IP) review process. Thus, the MBRT members will have opportunities to comment on the use of Bank credits for projects with ≥ 0.5 acres of wetland impacts through the USACE’s normal LOP and IP review processes.