Credit type · sold in pounds of nitrogen or phosphorus
Per-pound nitrogen and phosphorus credits from approved restoration sites, for developments in the Neuse River and Jordan Lake watersheds that cannot meet their stormwater nutrient targets on site alone.
North Carolina’s nutrient-sensitive watersheds — the Neuse River, Tar-Pamlico River, Falls Lake and Jordan Lake — have rules that cap the nitrogen (and in Jordan Lake and Falls Lake, phosphorus) that new development may export in its stormwater. The targets are expressed in pounds per acre per year. Projects meet them first with on-site stormwater control measures such as bioretention, wet ponds and disconnected impervious surfaces. When those measures cannot bring a site all the way to the target, the rules allow the remaining load to be offset by paying for an equivalent, permanent nutrient reduction somewhere else in the same watershed.
A nutrient offset credit is that reduction, quantified in pounds and approved by the NC Division of Water Resources (DWR). Buyers can purchase credits from the state’s in-lieu fee program run by the Division of Mitigation Services (DMS), or from a private provider like RestorEcology whose projects DWR has approved.
Your local government’s stormwater reviewer or DWR will tell you how many pounds you must offset. We sell exactly that quantity.
RestorEcology partners with landowners to take cropland along streams and ditches out of production and plant it with native hardwoods: oaks, bald cypress, sycamore, poplar, persimmon and more. Forested buffers filter runoff, take up nutrients and stabilize banks. DWR reviews the plan, the planting and years of monitoring data, then approves a specific number of pounds of nitrogen (and phosphorus in Jordan Lake) that the site is credited with removing. A recorded conservation easement and an endowed long-term steward guarantee the buffer stays forested in perpetuity, which is what makes the reduction permanent.
Offsets must be used in the watershed where they were generated:
Check an address on our service-area map.
Private-bank credits are typically available immediately and priced competitively with the state program, and they come from a specific, approved site you can visit. In some watersheds the state’s in-lieu fee program has suspended new applications, leaving private providers as the only option. Either way, a DWR-approved credit satisfies the rule; the difference is speed, price and knowing exactly where your offset came from.
Source projects
Neuse River · Wayne County, NC · 11 acres
11 acres of former cropland along two Brooks Swamp tributaries, planted with native hardwoods in 2024. Nitrogen and Neuse buffer credits available now.
Neuse River · Wayne County, NC · 35 acres
35 acres on Edwards Branch and four tributary streams near Goldsboro. Existing wooded buffers preserved, cropland planted in native hardwoods. Nitrogen and buffer credits available.
Neuse River · Wayne County, NC · 33 acres
33 acres on Horse Branch and a tributary near Grantham. Hardwood swamp preserved, cropland planted with native hardwoods. Nitrogen and Neuse buffer credits available.
Jordan Lake · Orange County, NC · 17 acres
17+ acres of former cropland at a winery in the Morgan Creek headwaters, planted with native hardwoods. Buffer, nitrogen and phosphorus credits for the Upper New Hope arm of Jordan Lake.
Common questions
Send us a credit inquiry with your project location, the credit type and the quantity your permit requires. We reply by email with a quote showing pricing and availability. Once you confirm, we issue an invoice. When payment is received (usually by check), we send a Credit Transfer Certificate that serves as your receipt and as documentation for the regulatory agency, along with a copy of the official credit ledger recording the sale.
Quotes usually go out within a business day of your inquiry. The certificate is issued as soon as payment clears, so the overall timeline mostly depends on your side: how quickly you confirm the quote and send payment. If you have a permit deadline, tell us in your inquiry and we will work to it.
Credits must be used in the watershed where they were generated. Our Neuse credits serve the Neuse River basin below Falls Lake Dam (HUC 03020201, excluding the Falls Lake watershed); our Jordan Lake credits serve the Upper New Hope arm; and our Tennessee stream credits serve the Hiwassee watershed with Watts Bar Lake and Middle Tennessee–Chickamauga as secondary areas. The fastest check is to type your project address into the service-area map. If you’re still unsure, send us the address and we’ll confirm.
Three kinds: nutrient offset credits in pounds of nitrogen (Neuse and Jordan Lake) and phosphorus (Jordan Lake); riparian buffer credits in square feet (Neuse and Jordan Lake); and stream mitigation credits quantified with the Tennessee SQT (Porterhouse Valley Mitigation Bank).
Send us your project location and the quantity your permit requires. We reply by email with pricing and availability.