About

The Michigan Municipal Wetland Alliance (MMWA) is a non-profit organization engaging in a public-private partnership with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) to help Michigan municipalities, farmers, and blueberry growers abide by the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality’s (MDEQ) wetland mitigation requirements by providing high-functioning, professionally managed and maintained wetland mitigation bank sites and credit opportunities.

The MMWA is dedicated to preserving wetland habitat and enhancing outdoor recreation on MDNR lands, while simultaneously addressing wetland impacts from Michigan municipalities, farmers, and blueberry growers. The public-private partnership between the MMWA and the MDNR helps to make compliance with the MDEQ’s wetland mitigation requirements less complicated, less expensive, and less time consuming. As a non-profit organization, the MMWA is designed to encourage long-term sustainability by creating professionally managed and maintained wetland mitigation banks with high water quality and biodiverse ecosystems.

The MMWA is made possible by a coordination of effort between the following member groups: the Michigan Association of County Drain Commissioners (MACDC), the Michigan Association of Counties (MAC), the Michigan Townships Association (MTA), the Michigan Municipal League (MML), and the County Road Association of Michigan (CRA).

Collaborators assisting in the advancement of the program include the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (MDNR), the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ), the Michigan Department of Agriculture & Rural Development (MDARD), Michigan Farm Bureau, the Michigan Blueberry Growers Association, the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).

Special thanks to Michigan Governor Rick Snyder and the Michigan Legislature for seeing the value in this partnership and recognizing that wetlands are vital to our wildlife and infrastructure.

The Michigan Municipal Wetland Alliance (MMWA) was created to provide high-functioning, professionally managed and maintained wetland mitigation bank sites, offering credit opportunities to address unavoidable wetland impacts from Michigan municipalities, farmers, and blueberry growers.

Mitigation construction on a per project basis can be very complicated, expensive, and time consuming, and public infrastructure projects can be delayed or put on hold due to costly mitigation requirements. While on-site mitigation may be an option, the preferred method of mitigation under federal and state statutes is mitigation banking, which reduces permit processing time and costs, increases certainty regarding the availability of adequate mitigation sites, consolidates small mitigation projects into better designed and managed units, and encourages integration of wetland mitigation projects with watershed-based resource planning. With the Michigan Department of Natural Resources’ (MDNR) assistance, the MMWA can get the price point down to a very reasonable level for municipalities, farmers, and blueberry growers that need to buy credits.

This partnership is a win-win-win: the MDNR likes it because restoring wetlands on DNR-managed public lands will create wetland habitat and enhance recreational opportunities for the public; the MDEQ likes it because large, professionally managed and maintained wetland areas support a more biodiverse ecosystem and have a more successful track record of long-term sustainability; and Michigan municipalities, farmers, and blueberry growers like it because it makes compliance less complicated, less expensive, and less time consuming.

Contact the Michigan Municipal Wetland Alliance (MMWA) if you are planning a project with unavoidable wetland impacts. The MMWA will check the availability of credits based on credit type, watershed, and ecoregion, then facilitate the sale of credits to the project owner where appropriate. For more information, please see our FAQs.