PARTNER CENTRAL - ENVIRONMENTAL
Comprehensive Mitigation / Conservation Strategy (CMCS)
What is CMCS?
As part of its commitment to environmental stewardship, ODOT has embarked on a cutting-edge, innovative approach to resource conservation and mitigation. The Comprehensive Mitigation / Conservation Strategy (CMCS) program has been developed to create an efficient, ecologically beneficial resource management tool.
As the title implies, the CMCS program provides a strategy for mitigation efforts, rather than a specified set of actions. Using tools developed to analyze and specify environmental values and functions at the ecosystem level, CMCS is both a method for evaluating environmental impacts at a given site and a programmatic approach to mitigation and conservation efforts.
What benefits does the CMCS program provide?
The CMCS program offers a variety of benefits and stewardship tools:
- Credit and Accounting System. A new method has been developed to inventory on-site environmental resources. This tool provides the foundation for a credit and accounting system to track changes to ecosystem functions.
- One-Stop Shopping for Mitigation. CMCS allows for adverse impacts to resources regulated by various agencies to be mitigated at one site through one established process.
- Options for Off-Site Mitigation. Unlike traditional mitigation, the CMCS program allows for off-site mitigation in some situations. Because this approach focuses on comprehensive ecosystem functions and value, off-site mitigation opportunities may better suit program goals than opportunities on-site.
- Pre-Existing Mitigation Sites. In many cases, the mitigation sites will be established ahead of time on large, consolidated sites with high ecological value.
For information on how the particular elements in the CMCS program relate to various regulatory agencies, refer to the CMCS Matrix.
For more information on the development of the CMCS program, refer to the Comprehensive Mitigation / Conservation Strategy White Paper (2004). This document details how the CMCS mitigation effort differs from traditional approaches.
How is the CMCS program related to state and federal permitting requirements?
The Intersection between CMCS Program Matrix shows how individual CMCS program elements meet or exceed compliance with mitigation/conservation requirements of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Department of State Lands, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, NOAA Fisheries, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and Oregon Department of Environmental Quality.
How do I apply CMCS, and what are my mitigation options?
At this time, the CMCS team is in development. Updates can be obtained by contacting OBDP.