Randolph County will be the home to the state's first mitigation bank that will provide a conservation credit alternative to reduce adverse impacts to the endangered Cheat Mountain Salamander and the West Virginia Northern Flying Squirrel habitat.

"For Randolph and the surrounding counties it will provide an opportunity to proceed with projects that will endanger the Cheat Mountain Salamander," West Virginia State Director for The Nature Conservancy Rodney Bartgis said. "There are no other options for a mitigation bank in West Virginia."

According to information from Thunderstruck, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service approved a Conservation Bank Enabling Agreement with Thunderstruck Conservation. According to Thunderstruck managing partner Dixon Harvey, these credits are the first of this type to be certified.

The conservation bank is a wildlife habitat, wetland, stream or other environmental resource area that has been restored, established, enhanced or preserved to provide compensation for unavoidable impacts to comparable resources elsewhere, according to Thunderstruck.

The conservation bank is located on 2,000 acres abutting the Monongahela National Forest in Randolph County and is a conservation priority for the state.

The bank will ensure the protection of endangered species on the property with a conservation easement. The bank is awarded credits based on the habitat quality and protection.

Bartgis said some projects, such as Corridor H, will have impacts on endangered species and they are required to obtain permits from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

"This will help streamline the permit approval process and accelerate our long-term recovery goals for endangered species," Assistant Field Supervisor of the West Virginia Field Office of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Laura Hill said. "Doing it in a way that it protects and buffers the habitat of the Monongahela National Forest makes this a true win/win for all of us."

The conservation bank will be implemented in three phases, with the timing based on demand for credits.

For information on acquiring these newly created credits, interested parties should contact Steve Kaiser at steve@kaiserassociatespr.com.

"This is a key component of a larger project to preserve high biodiversity areas, restore endangered species habitat, implement sustainable timber practices, and create unique conservation oriented home sites," Harvey said in a prepared statement. "Future phases will include forestry and habitat restoration over the next several years."

According to Harvey, Thunderstruck is working closely with Environmental Banc and Exchange, which will provide turnkey ecosystem mitigation and restoration services with BB&T as its financing partner.

Thunderstruck purchased land from MeadWestvaco in 2007 in northeastern Randolph County. When finished, Thunderstruck will create a habitat conservation bank of approximately 400 acres adjacent to the Monongahela National Forest's Roaring Plains Wilderness area, preserve another 1,400 acres and include a 28-unit environmentally sensitive conservation development.