Challenge
The greatest threat to wetlands and other important ecosystems, including streams and endangered species habitats, comes from development project activities that alter hydrology, generate pollution, and damage vegetation. Research estimates that 64 percent of the world's wetlands have disappeared since 1900, and that 76 percent of freshwater species populations declined between 1970 and 2010.i In cases where negative environmental impacts are unavoidable, ecological restoration can enhance and protect the environment and driving sustainable development.
In a 2013 report, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration concluded that wetland losses from 2004 to 2009 accelerated to more than 80,000 acres per year, a 33 percent increase from the previous study period.i In 2008, the Environmental Protection Agency and Army Corps of Engineers issued a final rule that requires compensatory mitigation for unavoidable impacts to replace the loss of wetland, stream, and other aquatic resource functions.
Resource Environmental Solutions, LLC (“RES”) was founded in 2007 and is the nation's leading provider of ecological restoration and water resource solutions to mitigate unavoidable, project-related impacts to wetlands, streams, and habitats.
Response
RES navigates and streamlines the environmental permitting process with solutions that balance economic development and ecological sustainability. The company delivers a full range of ecological solutions to its clients including proactive impact analyses for development projects, assistance in streamlining the regulatory permitting process, and value-added conservation and restoration activities. These client-focused solutions advance substantial environmental conservation and restoration related benefits by preserving land, restoring wetlands, streams, and species habitats, improving water quality, and protecting wildlife for future generations.
Resultsii
RES has a long track record of working with hundreds of companies across both the commercial and government sectors. Since 2007, RES has restored, enhanced, rehabilitated, preserved, and conserved more than 180 miles of streams and more than 45,245 acres of wetlands in environmentally sensitive habitats along the Gulf Coast, across Appalachia, the Middle Atlantic, and the Southeastern United States, and most recently in the Midwest. These projects have eliminated more than 240 tons of water-polluting nutrients. In total, RES has supplied ecological solutions and enabled regulatory compliance for thousands of infrastructure development projects across the United States.