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The agencies strongly recommend applicants contact tribes and local governments involved in <br />decisions for use of the site as mitigation (e.g., critical area or shoreline permits, sites affecting fish <br />habitat, or Tribal 401 Certification) early in the permit review process. In some cases, local <br />jurisdictions may not have regulations in place to allow mitigation in advance of impacts. If a project <br />is located on state owned aquatic lands, applicants will also need to contact the Department of <br />Natural Resources for approval. <br />Use of the Advance Mitigation Site <br />At the time that credits generated by the advance mitigation effort are proposed to be used as <br />compensatory mitigation for a specific project, the permit applicant shall provide an Advance <br />Mitigation Site Use Plan (Use Plan) to the regulatory agencies with jurisdiction over the action <br />causing aquatic impacts. <br />The Use Plan should include the following information: <br />1. Reference the mitigation plan defined in the "Proposing Advance Mitigation" section listed <br />above. This should include all of the elements listed in the required section. If the <br />information listed in the recommended section was not included in the application stage, this <br />information should be provided in the Use Plan. <br />2. All monitoring reports for the site, or a reference to the reports if they have been provided. <br />3. Demonstrate the advance mitigation's ecological lift beyond the approved baseline <br />conditions, documented by meeting stated performance standards or demonstrated by a <br />functional assessment and monitoring reports. <br />4. Describe the development project's impacts to aquatic resources requiring mitigation. <br />Include type of aquatic impact, fish and wildlife species affected, acreage impacted, functions <br />lost, and how impacts have been avoided and minimized. <br />5. Describe how the advance mitigation adequately compensates for the unavoidable impacts to <br />waters of the U.S. and any impacts to fish life. <br />6. If the impact area is within the service area of an approved mitigation bank or in -lieu -fee <br />program, demonstrate why the use of the advance mitigation site is ecologically preferable <br />from a watershed perspective. Some critical functions may need to be mitigated on site. <br />7. Propose the amount of mitigation credit the applicant believes is necessary to offset lost <br />functions from the proposed impacts. This should be based on the credit generating schedule <br />if one was established during the application stage (see 1.f. above). If not established it <br />should be based on the quality of the impacted area and functions lost, and the age and <br />demonstrated success of the advance mitigation. site. The final decision on the type, and <br />amount of compensatory mitigation required for an impacting project is reserved to the <br />exclusive discretion of the regulatory agencies with authority over that project. <br />8. The site must be protected in perpetuity prior to the use of the site as mitigation. Include <br />information on what site protection mechanism has been established or is being proposed for <br />7 <br />