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National Environmental Banking Association (NEBA)
About Us
The Association represents hundreds of businesses from across the United States committed to high standards for ecological restoration and the preservation of wetlands and natural habitats through the use of environmental banks.
The Association’s members have established and operated mitigation, conservation and other environmental banks throughout the United States since the early 1990s.
Mitigation and Conservation Banking provide cost-effective offset for unavoidable environmental impacts nationwide for a variety of resources and habitats. Credits from a mitigation bank typically offer the most timely solution for those seeking permits from the agency when environmental impacts cannot be further avoided or minimized. This is especially true for larger projects which may require Standard Permits; in fact, use of credits from a mitigation bank may cut permitting timelines by as much as 50% according to U.S. Army Corps Data.*
Chart shows average number of days to permit for different forms of mitigation (MB = Mitigation Bank; PRM OFF = Offsite Permittee Responsible Mitigation; PRM ON = Onsite Permittee Responsible Mitigation) and by permit types (LOP = Letter of Permission; NWP = Nationwide Permit; PGP = Programmatic General Permit; RGP = Regional General Permit; SP = Standard Permit)
NEBA Proudly Supports
OUR BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Our all-volunteer board represents businesses committed to high standards for ecological restoration and preservation of our nation's wetlands and natural habitats through the use of environmental banks.
Jeff Oyen has been active in the wetland mitigation banking business in the Dakotas for nearly two decades. As co-founder/part-owner in Tetonka, LLP, he has restored, developed, constructed and marketed credits for two wetland bank sites in the Lower Big Sioux Watershed of South Dakota. These were the first approved bank sites in the state of South Dakota. Oyen is also partner/part-owner in North Central Mitigation, LLC. NCM likewise has developed two bank sites in South Dakota and one in North Dakota and Oyen is also active in all aspects of the business.
In addition to a diverse range of private developers and municipalities, Tetonka and NCM have marketed wetland credits to the DOT, FAA and FHWA to offset unavoidable wetland impacts under various regulatory drivers.
Besides owning and actively managing a successful farming operation near Crooks, South Dakota, Oyen has been a participant in the National Mitigation & Ecosystem Banking Conference, attended DC Fly-ins to interact directly with policy and regulatory officials, and engaged on behalf of mitigation banking issues in the Midwest and beyond. Oyen was on the local Minnehaha County Conservation District Board for over 20 years. He enjoys hiking, biking, and spending time with family.
Kevin’s position as Managing Partner of HRI Capital Partners, LLC, the Sponsor of the Amite Basin Umbrella Bank, allows him to interact with the company’s customers, partners, and stake holders in its mitigation banking business. Kevin is responsible for deal origination, deal curation, landowner relations, permitting, and maintenance of the company portfolio. Kevin is the Vice President of Holcomb Resources, Inc. where he is responsible for the financial reporting, planning, and financial analysis of the Company's assets..
Kevin has a Bachelor of Finance degree from Louisiana Tech University. Before coming to Holcomb Resources, Inc. he worked as a financial analyst for Crest Operations, LLC followed by revenue and expense analyst at Wiland, Inc. of Boulder, CO.
Robert Spoth spent almost 30 years with the world’s largest insurance brokerage firms, specializing in providing advice, service and insurance brokerage to the construction sector. While working in that sector of the risk management community, Spoth discovered a need for “financial assurance” for ecosystem restoration companies (Clean Water Act Section 404 permitting). His firm developed a specialty product, sought and received the support of an insurance company and finally had the product approved for use by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. He started a small insurance agency to exclusively market the product and became the first and only insurance company to insure an offset credit of any sort. He has provided over $500 million in financial assurances for banking projects.
Spoth has taught workshops and training courses for such organizations as the National Mitigation & Ecosystem Banking Conference, National Mitigation Banking Association and others.
Steve has been the Chief Executive Officer of Coast Range Wetlands Inc. since 2009. He has managed all facets of management at the wetland mitigation banking firm including acquisition, entitlements and management of the Seigler Valley Wetland Mitigation Bank property. He is the Principal Biologist and Partner of Northwest Biosurvey, conducting botanical surveys, wildlife surveys, wetland delineations, biological assessments and agency consultation for projects subject to local, state and federal permitting. His work includes technical reporting, field survey data collection, analysis and proposed mitigation for the CEQA and NEPA review process.
He was the former Planner for the City of Chico, CA and former Environmental Officer for Lake County, CA. He also previously worked as a Community College Biology Instructor (L.A. Pierce College, Yuba College, Mendocino College); and the Director of Lake County Air Pollution Control District. He holds a MS Biology, California State University Northridge and has numerous publications.
Ray has been implementing habitat restoration projects in the Willamette Valley of Oregon since 1999, brokering relationships both on the private and public side to implement habitat restoration projects on a landscape scale and make mitigation banking a viable economic option for accomplishing conservation goals and regulatory compliance. Ray has been involved in wetland mitigation in Oregon since 1999, beginning with construction of the Mud Slough mitigation bank, followed by increasing responsibilities with the Mid-Valley and Frazier Creek mitigation banks. He has been specializing in wetland mitigation for both private and public projects since 2005.
Ray has been managing partner of Oregon Wetlands LLC since 2006, with 4 mitigation banks currently under management. As an owner and operator of multiple mitigation banks and involvement in various public mitigation projects, Ray not only understands the economics of these projects from both perspectives but is also involved in everything from site selection to project design, implementation, daily operation, and long-term management. His professional and academic experience focuses on implementation and management of high quality habitat projects. He shares his knowledge and passion through annual tours and lectures for interested groups such as: USDA habitat restoration workshops, Benton County Soil and Water conservation district, The Wetlands Conservancy, and various Oregon State university classes and research projects. Ray is also the board chair of Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife Access and Habitat NW Region Advisory Board serving his second 4 year term.
John ‘JP’ Woodley has developed insights and abilities in service at the highest levels of State and Federal Government. He served as Deputy Attorney General of Virginia for Government Operations, then as Secretary of Natural Resources for Virginia, with overall responsibility for all environmental protection and permitting, outdoor recreation and open space management, inland and marine fisheries and historic resources in the Commonwealth. In 2001, he was appointed by Pres. George W. Bush to the U.S. Department of Defense as principal environmental advisor to the Secretary of Defense. From 2003 to 2009, Mr. Woodley served as Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works, responsible for the civil works functions of the Dept. of the Army, including the civil works activities of the Army Corps of Engineers and Arlington National Cemetery. He implemented a major business process transformation within the Corps starting with the first use of performance-based budgeting in Corps history. He issued the 2008 Final Rule for Mitigation on behalf of the Army Corps of Engineers, which provided the regulatory framework for the mitigation banking industry.
Mr. Woodley was involved in the reconstruction of the hurricane protection system for New Orleans, Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina, and the restoration of the Florida Everglades.
Martin ‘Danny’ Moran is one of the founding Directors of Ecosystem Renewal. He has over 39 years of experience including land management, environmental restoration, and development of wetland mitigation banks throughout the southeast. As President of Ecosystem Renewal, LLC, Moran’s duties include new project origination, business administration, customer relations, and overseeing marketing and operations for the Company’s projects in Louisiana and Texas. In this position, Moran interacts daily with the technical consultants and staff, vendor and contractors, and with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and other federal, state and local regulatory agencies. Current projects require interaction with the USACE’s Vicksburg District, New Orleans District, Galveston District, and Ft. Worth District.
His key strengths are in the areas of business administration, project management with full Profit & Loss responsibility, including project implementation, construction management, land acquisition and development. Moran also has extensive experience in project analysis and due diligence, financial analysis; and maximizing returns on investments.
Moran has been involved with the development of various stages of over 16 mitigation bank projects and other restoration projects. Utilizing his construction management and land development background, Moran has performed land restorations, strategic contract negotiations, has coordinated with numerous local, state; and federal agencies for bank development, has provided site location analysis for restoration sites, and is involved with the sales and marketing of wetland mitigation credits.
Donna Collier served as the founding Chairwoman of the National Environmental Banking Association for over five years. She is also the founder and Managing Partner of Valencia Wetlands Trust a mitigation banking company since 2001. She is a past Board member of the National Mitigation Banking Association and was also its Secretary, Treasurer, and Chair of the Data and Research Committee. She has been a moderator and presenter at the National Mitigation and Ecosystem Banking Conference, and a member of its Steering Committee.
Donna has met with regulatory agencies and Congressional representatives since 2009 to help boost the mitigation banking industry by recommending policies that promote private investment. She has been successful in several key policies.
Donna has been a regular speaker at college-level mitigation banking courses. She consults in the industry and is currently involved in developing new mitigation banks. She has provided court testimony regarding mitigation banking issues. She served as a member of an EPA Steering Committee to write manuals to increase the efficiency of regulators.
Prior to becoming involved in mitigation banking, Donna had a wide range of management experience which included permitting sizeable residential developments, handling construction management for large building projects, managing a multi-national marketing group for a heavy equipment manufacturer, administering large U.S. Government and international contracts, supervising over 40 hospital and medical office managers and leading a corporate-wide project to revolutionize physician billing.
Michael Sprague is CEO and founder of Trout Headwaters, Inc (THI) based in Livingston, Montana. For more than 25 years at THI, Sprague has helped advance sustainable river and wetland restoration projects and technologies, making THI an industry leader in conservation, restoration and mitigation. THI takes a multidisciplinary approach to habitat creation, ecological restoration, and other environmental services for a broad range of private and other clients across the United States. Sprague has worked to develop industry reporting and software, including the big data platform Mitigation Analyst Lite available to NEBA members.
Sprague served as President, Vice-President and held various committee positions for the National Mitigation Banking Association. He is one of the founding board members of the National Environmental Banking Association (NEBA). He has taught training courses and workshops on the topics of sustainable restoration, ecological assessment methodologies, environmental big data and mitigation banking for such organizations as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, International Erosion Control Association, Environmental Systems Research Institute, National Mitigation & Ecosystem Banking Conference, the New York State Wetlands Forum, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers – Engineering Research & Development Center, and others.
Kenny is a Professional Wetland Scientist (PWS) currently specializing in wetland and stream delineations, federal and state environmental permitting, developing compensatory stream and wetland mitigation banks, and natural resource assessments including threatened and endangered species reviews and critical habitat evaluations. Kenny also performs phase I environmental site assessments (ESAs), environmental constraints analyses, and biological assessments of streams and water bodies. With 18 years of experience, Kenny has had the opportunity to be the lead natural resources consultant on some of Northern Virginia’s largest projects. He is proficient in the use of the Esri Geospatial Cloud including ArcGIS and its associated tools, and has relevant experience using MicroStation, Civil 3D, and other design software packages. His professional experience has allowed him to build a strong reputation with federal and state review agencies and possess the understanding of successfully navigating the challenges of the current regulatory environment.
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