Shreveport Mitigation Bank, LA
| Quick Facts |
| Location |
Bossier Parish, Louisiana |
| USACE District |
Vicksburg |
| Site Acres |
294 acres |
| Watersheds Serviced (HUC Cataloging Units) |
McKinney-Posten Bayou (11140201)
Middle Red-Chousetta (11140202)
Loggy Bayou (11140203)
Red Chute (11140204)
Bodcau Bayou (11140405)
Bayou Pierre (11140406)
Lower Red-Lake Latt (11140407)
Saline Bayou (11140408)
Black Lake Bayou (11140409) |
| EPA Ecoregions Serviced |
Mississippi Alluvial Plain |
| Parishes or Portions of Parishes Serviced |
Bossier, Claiborne, Webster, Bienville, Lincoln, DeSoto, Caddo, Red River, Natchitoches, Sabine, Winn, Grant, Vernon and Rapides |
| Available Wetland Habitat Types |
Bottomland Hardwood, Cypress-Tupelo, Stream |
| Available Mitigation Types |
Restoration, Enhancement, Stream Restoration, Riparian and Upland Buffer |
| Total Mitigation Acres |
294 acres |
| Current Mitigation Acres Available for Sale |
0.0 acres |
| Functional Assessment Method & Credit Value |
|
| 2002 Charleston Method |
Under Evaluation |
   
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 The Shreveport Mitigation bank, located two miles south of Bossier City and Moon Lake and Bluff Bridge natural areas on the Barksdale Air Force Base, was once occupied by a large expanse of floodplain bottomland hardwood wetland periodically inundated by Red Chute Bayou.
Today, it is one of the few remaining expanses of 100 year floodplain still connected to the Chute along the now highly altered, dredged and leveed bayou. The majority of the site was logged and converted to row-crop agriculture in the 1930s through ditching and draining and is now used as improved pasture. While over 90% of the site was logged, large remnant trees still remain on the property in the lowest lying areas.
In order to convert this historic floodplain wetland area, a large, over 6 foot deep ditch was excavated through the property, with several side lateral ditches dug to facilitate drainage from the site directly into Red Chute Bayou. Aerial analysis indicates that the main drainage ditch was most likely excavated through portions of a much shallower perennial stream or drain that connected the depressional areas. Despite this drainage, several remnant depressional areas still persist to this day, with large, remnant specimens of between 50 and 100 year old cypress, overcup oak, sugarberry and nuttal oak trees.
Several large isolated specimens of sweet pecan, eastern cottonwood, overcup oak and water oak also occur throughout the bank site. The restoration plan will be constructed in two phases and will restore wetland hydrology to the majority of the site by lateral ditch blocking and placement of water control structures within the main ditch in Phase I, and in Phase II, re-creation of a meandering stream channel with a stabilized profile and floodplain.
The Shreveport mitigation banks is the only bank in this area that will be offering high-quality, stream restoration credits.
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