OAR 141-085-0750: Payments to and Expenditures from the Oregon Removal-Fill Mitigation Fund

The Department will use the Oregon Removal-Fill Mitigation Fund to hold and disperse money collected from the Payment In-Lieu (PIL) and In-Lieu Fee (ILF) Mitigation programs sponsored by the Department. (1) Payments. The Department will calculate payments for PIL and ILF based on: (a) Actual costs and expenses of the off-site compensatory mitigation divided by the number of credits anticipated from the mitigation if these are known at the time of the payment, or (b) Estimated costs and expenses for off-site compensatory mitigation for the region of the state where the Department, to the greatest extent practicable, determines the off-site compensatory mitigation may be conducted. (c) Estimated costs and expenses for off-site compensatory mitigation will be assessed based on the formula: Payment = [A + R + RMV + LT] ÷ mm, where: (A) A = Administrative Costs calculated as 10% of the sum of R, RMV and LT; (B) R = Restoration Costs calculated as the sum of all anticipated costs per unit area. Anticipated costs include but are not limited to project design and engineering, construction, planting, and seven years of monitoring and maintenance. These costs will be based on a biennial survey of regional project data submitted to the Oregon Watershed Restoration Inventory, The Conservation Registry, projects funded by the Department, and/or surveys of restoration consulting firms and practitioners; (C) RMV = Real Market Land Value of the proportion of the tax lot acreage to be mitigated for, adjusted based on zoning; (D) LT = Long-Term Management Costs calculated as 30% of the Restoration Costs (R), (E) mm = Mitigation Multiplier representing the number of credits typically generated per unit area of mitigation conducted. (2) Limitations on Oregon Removal-Fill Mitigation Fund Expenditures. The Department will expend funds from the Oregon Removal-Fill Mitigation Fund to: (a) Restore, enhance, create or preserve water resources of this state (including acquisition of land or easements as necessary to conduct restoration, enhancement, creation or preservation projects) as compensatory mitigation to compensate, replace or preserve functions and values lost or diminished as result of an approved project; (b) Purchase credits from an approved mitigation bank for the purpose of fulfilling the mitigation requirements of an approved project; (c) Monitor the compensatory mitigation; (d) Conduct site management for the compensatory mitigation project as necessary to assure that the mitigation is successful; and (e) Administer the program and fund a staff position. (3) Geographic Limitations of Funds Expenditures. The Department will expend funds collected under the PIL option within the basin where the removal-fill site occurs, unless the Department determines that this option is not feasible.