Mitigation banking: Panacea or poison for wetlands protection

This article analyzes the usefulness of mitigation banking in the context of wetlands regulation. In addition, this article discusses the narrow issue of whether mitigation banks should include preserved wetlands. This article concludes that although the concept of mitigation banking has some drawbacks overall the development of mitigation banks should be encouraged. Preservation, however, should be permitted only in very limited situations, because in most instances it leads to a net loss of wetlands with no corresponding benefit.