About

Location:  Hidden Lake Wetland Mitigation Bank (HLWMB) is an 818-acre tract in Tyrrell County, NC, adjacent to the Albemarle Sound, 5 miles northeast of Columbia, NC.  Tyrrell County is the first coastal county inland from Dare County and the Outer Banks.  HLWMB is within the Pasquotank River Basin in northeastern NC, with road frontage on Soundside and Potlicker Roads.  It has about one mile of frontage on the south shore of Albemarle Sound, north of N.C. Hwy 64.

On-Site Wetlands Mitigation: Within the tracts, 818.4 acres are designated and approved as a wetland mitigation bank with 115.0 non-riparian wetland credits available for use or sale.  Since its purchase in 1993, 48.4 acres of prior converted (PC) agriculture lands have been planted to native wetland hardwoods, Atlantic white cedar, and cypress, restoring the sites to a functioning forested wetland condition.  The average planted tree height is over 40 feet, and the stands are fully stocked.  Wetlands enhancement and preservation activities have been implemented on the remaining acreage.  The Interagency Review Team (IRT), which consists of the US Army Corps of Engineers and other State and Federal agencies, approved the Mitigation Banking Instrument (MBI).  The monitoring period has been completed, and the final agency approval has been given.  This final agency approval documented the functional success of the bank and release of all non-riverine wetland credits and was granted on September 8, 2014.  The conservation easement was recorded on July 22, 2014, and all wetland credits are available for use, sale, or donation.

Mitigation Bank Service Area:  Following the approval of an Addendum to the MBI in 2012, the Service Area for this Bank expanded to all of northeastern NC: the entire Pasquotank Hydrologic Unit (03010205) comprising 3750 sq. mi., including the Pasquotank River Basin; Scuppernong 53 sub-basin, and Alligator Creek 51 sub-basin.