The Croatan Wetland Mitigation Bank (CWMB) is located in Craven County, North Carolina approximately 3.6 miles northwest of the town of Havelock. The CWMB was created to provide compensatory mitigation for several NCDOT projects in the Neuse River Basin.  The site encompasses approximately 4,035 acres and was designed and implemented in two phases. Phase I construction began in the fall of 2001 and was completed in the winter of 2001. Phase II construction began that same winter and was completed in the spring of 2002. 

Phase I is approximately 1469.3 acres and contains approximately 1446.5 acres targeted for a combination of non-riverine wetland restoration (311.6 acres), enhancement (1026.9 acres), and preservation (108.0 acres). The remaining 22.8 acres of Phase I consists of non-hydric soils (3.9 acres) and areas considered non-restorable (18.9 acres). Phase II is approximately 2565.3 acres and contains approximately 2333.5 acres targeted for a combination of non-riverine wetland restoration (1123.6 acres), enhancement (956.9 acres), and preservation (253.0 acres).  Approximately 179 acres are targeted for a combination of riverine restoration (49.6 acres), enhancement (27.1 acres), and preservation (37.8 acres). The remaining 52.8 acres of Phase II consists of non-hydric soils (25.7acres) and areas considered non-restorable (27.1 acres)

ESI with additional technical expertise from its subconsultant, Eddy Engineering, PC, guided this project from conceptualization to completion, including collecting the background data in order to provide documentation on the feasibility of the site, preparing the Mitigation Plan and Mitigation Banking Instrument, agency coordination, permitting, construction oversight, and in the post construction monitoring of the CWMB.  Preliminary data collection included jurisdictional wetland and stream delineations, soils mapping, installation of groundwater monitoring wells to support the jurisdictional delineation, Threatened and Endangered species surveys, vegetative sampling, modeling and validation. ESI installed and currently monitors 319 groundwater wells to document the post construction hydrologic conditions