Forest Mitigation

Mitigation for significant impacts to forest lands, as described above, is required at a 1:1 ratio through the purchase of a conservation easement in the appropriate mitigation district or through the contribution to an in lieu fee fund (ILF) with the Virginia Department of Forestry’s Office of Working Lands. The requirements of a conservation easement are included in the solar PBR regulations 9VAC15-60-60.F. See below for the ILF fee schedule and the mitigation districts.

Prime Agricultural Soils Mitigation

Mitigation is required for prime agricultural soils where the project would disturb more than ten acres of prime agricultural soils. Mitigation options for these impacts include:

Offsite:

Mitigation to offset disturbance of prime agricultural soils within the project’s mitigation district at a ratio of 1:1 acres through the purchase of a conservation easement or through the contribution to an established in-lieu fee fund (ILF) managed by the Virginia Department of Forestry’s Office of Working Lands. The requirements of a conservation easement is included in the solar PBR regulations 9VAC15-60-60.F. See below for the ILF fee schedule and the mitigation districts.

Onsite:

• Mitigation Options: The applicant may reduce their mitigation obligation by conducting certain onsite mitigation options per the table below. Note that per the regulations, the applicant may apply different options to different areas of the site, but options may not be combined on the same portion of the site.
• Management Alternatives: The applicant may further reduce the offsite mitigation obligation through onsite mitigation alternatives including: managed grazing; active cropping, including hayland; or establishment and maintenance of Pollinator Smart Program habitat/vegetation, including certification and monitoring in accordance with the DCR/DEQ POLLINATOR–SMART Comprehensive Manual.

Management Alternatives:  The 25% reduction is applied to the off-site conservation easement obligation and is only applied when a mitigation alternative will be conducted on all areas of the site, where reasonable, and in combination with a mitigation option (Table 1 above). For example, grazing must occur on all areas where reasonably accessible to grazing stock.  Areas of roads, solar panels, structures and the like would be excluded from the management alternative areas.

DEQ encourages the use of the Mitigation Calculator for the calculation of mitigation to prime agricultural soils.

Conservation Easements and Mitigation Districts

Conservation Easements

If an applicant chooses to satisfy all or part of their mitigation obligation for significant adverse impacts to forest land and/or prime agricultural soils through a conservation easement, the proposed land identified for the easement(s) must be identified and presented during the application process. See 9VAC15-60-60.F for detailed requirements. 

The holder of the easement shall be either (i) a holder in accordance with the Virginia Conservation Easement Act (§ 10.1-1009 et seq. of the Code of Virginia) that is accredited by the Land Trust Accreditation Commission or its designated subsidiary entity or (ii) a public body in accordance with the Open-Space Land Act (§ 10.1-1700 et seq. of the Code of Virginia).

DEQ and the Department of Forestry Office of Working Lands is working on an easement template that will satisfy the regulatory requirements. 

Mitigation Districts

Mitigation utilizing offsite conservation easements is required to be completed within the same Mitigation District.  Those districts are described in the Solar PBR Regulation.

In Lieu Fee Payments

The Virginia Department of Forestry's Office of Working Lands will administer an ILF program to be used for the mitigation of forest and prime agricultural soils. Payments must be made to the Department of Forestry prior to project construction. The final mitigation costs per acre are comprised of the Predicted Easement Value and the DOF Administrative Costs.

Predicted Easement Value

DEQ is required to calculate the Predicted Easement Value in each of the mitigation districts. See the methodology for this calculation.

DOF Administrative Costs

Administrative costs are established by DOF for the processing and stewardship of the easements. Please contact Amanda Scheps for additional information.