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• • Minnesota Wetland Conservation Act Guidance Paper 2003 -01 October, 2003 Approved by: Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources (10/22/03) Approved by: Minnesota Interagency Wetland Group SUBJECT: Exceptional Natural Resource Value Projects (8420.0541 Subp. 4) 1. Purpose and applicability. a. Purpose. The purpose of this guidance paper is to provide Local Government Units (LGUs) with guidelines for use of Minnesota Rule 8420.0541 Subpart 4 Exceptional natural resource value projects. b. Applicability. This guidance applies to LGU's evaluation of wetland replacement plans where an applicant proposes the use of the exceptional natural resource value projects method of allocation of wetland credits. 2. General Considerations. Exceptional natural resource value projects was added to 8420.0541 ACTIONS ELIGIBLE FOR CREDIT in the Wetland Conservation Act (WCA) rule that became permanent on August 5, 2002. Minnesota Rule 8420.0541 Subpart 4 states "Projects that restore exceptional natural resource values of wetlands may receive either public value or new wetland replacement credit solely or in combination as determined by the local government unit with the concurrence of the technical evaluation panel. The amount and type of credit allowed shall be based on a functional assessment that documents the restoration of these values." Local government units and technical evaluation panels are strongly encouraged to use this guidance paper when evaluating all wetland replacement plans that propose use of the exceptional natural resource value projects method of allocating wetland replacement credits. Because the rule does not define exceptional natural resource value of wetlands, LGUs and Technical Evaluation Panels (TEPs) are encouraged to use this guidance to limit the use of this part of the rule. The WCA rules require that wetland replacement should occur as close to the impacted wetland as possible (WCA Rule 8420.0543 Wetland Replacement Siting). The exceptional natural resource value projects option for wetland replacement provides another opportunity to achieve this goal and should be strongly considered by project applicants. 3. "Exceptional" definition. The word exceptional in this subpart means that replacement plans that use this method of allocating credits should be restricted to projects that: a. Restore values listed under 8420.0548 Special Considerations including: EXCEP NAT RES Guid FINAL doc 1