Credit type · sold in Tennessee SQT stream credits
Approved Tennessee SQT stream credits from the Porterhouse Valley Mitigation Bank, for permitted stream impacts in the Hiwassee, Watts Bar Lake and Middle Tennessee–Chickamauga watersheds.
When a project in Tennessee must pipe, relocate, fill or otherwise alter a stream, it needs an Aquatic Resource Alteration Permit (ARAP) from the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) and, in most cases, a Clean Water Act Section 404 permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Both agencies require the applicant to compensate for unavoidable stream loss by restoring stream function somewhere else in the same watershed.
Tennessee quantifies that loss and the offsetting gain with the Tennessee Stream Quantification Tool (TN SQT), which scores hydrology, hydraulics, geomorphology, physicochemical condition and biology before and after a project. The functional lift a restoration project produces becomes stream credits, and a permittee buys enough credits to cover the debit the SQT assigns to their impact.
Credits can come from a permittee-responsible project, the state in-lieu fee program, or an approved mitigation bank that has already done the work. Banks are usually the fastest and lowest-risk option because the restoration is complete, approved and protected before the credits are sold.
Your permit or the agency’s SQT worksheet will specify the credits required. We sell that quantity.
The Porterhouse Valley Mitigation Bank restored 6,790 linear feet of stream on a working farm that had been degraded by decades of livestock access and channelization. The channels were rebuilt in their natural position, planted with native trees and shrubs, and fenced from cattle, all within a 23-acre conservation easement. The bank is fully approved with 2,873 SQT credits available.
Check an address on our service-area map.
Source projects
Jordan Lake · Alamance County, NC · 13,800 linear ft
Removal of a late-1800s mill dam on Reedy Fork near Burlington, restoring free flow to 13,800 linear feet of river. RestorEcology serves as mitigation bank consultant.
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.