Our Tour Of The Keller Farm Mitigation Bank

Victor Woodward, Credit Habitat Bank LLC

The Keller Farm Wetland Mitigation Bank is directly east of Avondale Road, south of 180th Street in Redmond. It was completely flooded during the early February storm. The Keller's live nearby, and are protective of the land. The City of Redmond owns the Bank; it's approximately 75 acres of land located along Bear Creek. Find an excellent picture and description of the Bank here. Three Watertenders: Gary Smith, Dick Schaible, myself and a Redmond Parks Commissioner were toured by Victor Woodward, the Bank manager.

The Bank is devised to ensure that wetland and tree loss resulting from select developments  are compensated for by installation of native shrubs, trees and large woody debris on the Bank.  Compensation is calculated in the form of "credits" up to $100,000 or more.

Washington Department of Transportation (WSDOT,) Sound Transit, large pipeline projects and various small residential developments are planned for Bank mitigation "servicing." Other project works will be forthcoming during a 12-year lease.

Victor Woodward, the manager, operator and sponsor of the Bank gave a fascinating 2.5 hour tour of the Bank on February 17th.  He's an impressive man, towering and outdoorsey.  We walked the whole perimeter, stumbling on the soaked clods of the 125 year-old has been dairy farm. Several farm ditches will be restored and maintained for aquatic and hydrology purposes. After the city permit for grading is approved Victor will level the land and kill off  various grasses and other invasives (with Roundup.) He was especially disturbed by the stubborn presence of Poison Hemlock.

We spent a lot of time hiking along Bear Creek.  Coyotes were seen in the distance, Canada Geese flew overhead, we walked by a Swan carcass; trees chewed by Beaver were everywhere. Victor chortled that his design plans for the creek area might be altered by Beavers, though they are welcome. Their feeding activity (at times dropping trees into the creek) provides excellent stream habitat and shelter for the salmon.

Towards the end of the tour we hiked along a wide ditch south of  the "Friendly Village" housing park. Ditch restoration and maintenance is required there for flood control. Victor's Habitat Bank LLC is fully insured and bonded. We lamented about the low populations of Chinook and coho this year. 

*The Bank's "service area" is far reaching. It includes all the streams that drain into the northern portion of Lake Washington, extending to development projects in south Everett, Lynnwood, Redmond, Woodinville, Kirkland, Bellevue, Sammamish and Issaquah.  This large service area will do much towards meeting Redmond's goal of a 40% tree canopy by 2050. It appears Willows are the tree of choice. 

Forterra oversees the City and Habitat Bank performance activities. Indian tribes have interest since the Bank accounts for 5% of the water entering into Bear Creek upstream. The water coming off the site is important for keeping Bear Creek cool especially in the summer.  This is critical for the salmon coming up the Sammamish River from Lake Washington and spawning in the many tributaries such as Bear and Evans Creeks.

After going through a 5-year permitting process, the Keller Wetland Mitigation Bank was approved for operation by the Army Corps of Engineers in late December, 2019 and was one of Mayor Marchione's last acts before retiring.

-- Bob Yoder
    2/21

Above, is my story of the tour.  Click READ MORE for Victor's additions and how to contact him. 

The following are Victor''s edits and additions:

"The goal of the bank is to make sure that there is no net loss of wetlands in the watershed so that permitted projects that do impact wetlands such as roads, infrastructure and reasonable use of property can purchase credits created by our bank that provide valuable wetland mitigation to offset the permitted impacts.

We build the bank and work with the various agencies to insure that it is environmentally successful but we have no influence or choice in who gets to use the mitigation credits.  Only applicants that go through the permitting process with Federal, State and local agencies that regulate wetlands and critical areas, and justify their need to impact those wetlands or critical areas are then eligible, if they get a permit, to use mitigation credits from the bank or do their own mitigation.  We have no say in the process.

The mitigation credits the project generates are available to be purchased by the square foot by permit applicants depending upon how large their impact is.

It is a requirement of the City of Redmond that Habitat Bank is fully insured, the project itself is bonded with the regulatory agencies to guarantee that it will be completed.

Forterra, will hold a conservation easement on the property and will monitor Habitat Bank and the City of Redmond in perpetuity to insure that the conservation values of the site are maintained."

-- Victor Woodward, 2/21        

Information on Victor's other Mitigation Banks and how to contact him.

The City of Redmond's Project Overview