R634-3-7. Administration

  The Compensatory Mitigation Program and associated systems to generate and track Credits shall be administered by the Department.

  (1) Credit Exchange Service.

  (a) The Department shall monitor and track generated and transferred Credits using the Credit Exchange Service which will include the following information:

  (i) Credits. Upon Completion of any Credit Generation Project, the Department will track:

  (A) the number of Credits generated under each mitigation system herein;

  (B) the dates the Credits were Verified and certified by the Department or a trained Verifier;

  (C) the types of Habitat(s) created by the Credit(s), if the information is available;

  (D) the name and address of each Credit Provider; and

  (E) the duration or term for maintaining a Credit.

  (ii) Transferred Credits. The Department will track information relating to each Transferred Credit including:

  (A) name of Credit Buyer;

  (B) the number of Credits transferred to the Credit Buyer;

  (C) date of transfer;

  (D) duration and term the Credit expires, if applicable.

  (iii) Expiration of Credit. If the term of a Credit expires, the Department will notify the Buyer of the Credit, the Credit Provider and the involved regulatory agency, if applicable, that the Credit has expired and remove the Credit from the tracking system.

  (2) Procedure for Transferring Credits.

  (a) A Credit Buyer may negotiate the acquisition price for a Credit with any Credit Provider listed on the Credit Exchange Service.

  (b) Once an agreement on transfer is finalized between the Credit Provider and Credit Buyer, the Credit Provider shall notify the Department within 7 days.

  (c) Once the Department receives notice of the agreement from a Credit Provider, the Department will send the Credit Buyer an invoice identifying the Credit Transfer Fee to be paid by the Credit Buyer to the Department.

  (d) The Credit Buyer shall pay the Credit Transfer Fee to the Department within 30 days of the Department sending the invoice. Upon receipt of the Credit Transfer Fee, the Department will transfer the agreed upon Credits to the Credit Buyer.

  (e) The Department shall track Credits transferred to any Credit Buyer using the Credit Exchange Service.

  (f) Any Credit Buyer may purchase additional Credits to offset future planned development projects anticipated to cause a Permanent Disturbance to sage-grouse habitat.

  (g) Once a Credit Buyer acquires a Transferred Credit, the Credit Buyer of the Transferred Credit may not be transfer or sell the Transferred Credit to any other person or entity.

  (h) If the term of a Transferred Credit expires and the Credit has not expired, notify the Credit Buyer, the Credit Provider and the involved regulatory agency, if applicable, that the Transferred Credit has expired and the Department will return the Credit to the Credit Provider in the tracking system.

  (i) For the purposes of transfer of credits, a Conservation Bank that uses Credits to offset its own Debits will be considered the Credit Buyer.

  (3) Fee Schedule.

  (a) The Department will annually develop a fee schedule to cover the cost of the Compensatory Mitigation Program and submit to the Legislature, including:

  (i) The Application Fee to offset the cost of processing a compensatory mitigation application submitted to the Department from a potential Credit Provider.

  (ii) The Agreement Fee to offset the cost of administering Term Mitigation Agreements and Conservation Banking Agreements.

  (iii) The Credit Transfer Fee to offset the operation and maintenance costs of the Credit Exchange Service.

  (4) Verification and Monitoring Guidelines; Certification.

  (a) All Credits must be certified by the Department or by a Verifier prior to being tracked and transferred on the Credit Exchange Service to ensure that Credits are Functional Habitat, Corridors, or Protected Habitat for sage-grouse.

  (b) The Department will accredit any person interested in serving as a Verifier. Accreditation will occur after a person attends a verification training provided by the Department, or a designee, and after a person demonstrates proficiency implementing the Department's monitoring and assessment guidelines.

  (c) Verifiers will act as a designee to the Program Administrator to certify Credits upon completion of any Credit Generation Projects.

  (d) Upon completion of any property verification activities, the Verifier will provide a written Verification report to the Program Administrator identifying a summary of the verification activities completed, summary of the number of acres of Functional Habitat, Corridors, or Protected Habitat in the Credit Generation Project area and an estimate of the number of Credits availables. The Department may add additional criteria to the report needed to carry out this rule.

  (5) Monitoring and Assessment Guidelines; Scientific Method.

  (a) The Credit Provider, or a designee, is responsible for monitoring and maintaining Credits utilizing the methods identified by the Department throughout the lifetime of the Credit to ensure that each Credit serves as viable Functional Habitat or Corridors for sage-grouse.

  (b) The Department, and any trained Verifier, will utilize existing range trend monitoring guidelines or other scientifically approved methods identified by the Department to identify Credit Maintenance activities to be undertaken by a Credit Provider or their designee.

  (c) The Department's monitoring and assessment guidelines will be reviewed, at a minimum, every three years to ensure they are consistent with current scientific literature and methods.

  (6) Reserve Pool.

  (a) All Credits generated by the Department will be maintained on the Credit Exchange Service to serve as a Reserve Pool to off-set losses from Reversals to any Credits generated under this Program.

  (7) Adaptive Management.

  (a) The DNR will monitor compensatory mitigation efforts and employ new scientific findings into this Compensatory Mitigation Program following adaptive management strategies, as such information becomes available.