(1) A person who provides off-site compensatory mitigation in order to comply with a condition imposed on a permit in accordance with ORS § 196.825 (5), an authorization issued in accordance with ORS § 196.800 to 196.921 or a resolution of a violation of ORS § 196.800 to 196.921 may make a payment for credits to an approved mitigation bank with available credits or to the Oregon Removal-Fill Mitigation Fund.

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(2) Any payments for off-site compensatory mitigation made to the Oregon Removal-Fill Mitigation Fund under subsection (1) of this section must be sufficient to cover the costs and expenses of land acquisition, project design and engineering, construction, planting, monitoring, maintenance, long-term management and protection activities, administration and other costs and expenses related to the off-site compensatory mitigation, which may vary depending on the region of this state where the off-site compensatory mitigation is conducted, and shall be calculated by the Department of State Lands as follows:

(a) If the off-site compensatory mitigation project and project costs and expenses are identified at the time of payment to the Oregon Removal-Fill Mitigation Fund, the department shall calculate the payment based on the actual costs and expenses of the off-site compensatory mitigation.

(b) If the off-site compensatory mitigation project and project costs and expenses are not identified at the time of payment to the Oregon Removal-Fill Mitigation Fund, the department shall calculate the payment based on the estimate of costs and expenses for off-site compensatory mitigation, as set forth in rules adopted by the department, for the region of this state where the department, to the greatest extent practicable, determines the off-site compensatory mitigation may be conducted.

(3) No later than December 1 of each year, the Director of the Department of State Lands shall submit to the Legislative Assembly and the State Land Board a detailed report that specifies:

(a) The costs and expenses related to off-site compensatory mitigation, including variations and trends in costs and expenses over time.

(b) Efforts undertaken by the department to reduce the costs and expenses specified in paragraph (a) of this subsection.

(c) Efforts undertaken by the department to improve efficiencies of the department related to off-site compensatory mitigation.

(d) The effectiveness of the July 2010 ‘Oregon Rapid Wetland Assessment Protocol’ of the department in protecting the functions and values of wetlands through off-site compensatory mitigation. [2003 c.738 § 22; 2007 c.849 § 11; 2009 c.343 § 10; 2011 c.370 § 3; 2013 c.257 § 1; 2015 c.343 § 1; 2019 c.652 § 3]