The “No Net Loss” policy was formally adopted in 1989 by the George H.W. government to maintain our current acreage of wetlands. Restoration activities that are not part of compensatory mitigation may need to acquire water rights, particularly if a site has been dewatered and will require any irrigation for plants to survive, or if existing wetland areas will be expanded. Generally, restoring or creating wetlands to mitigate for wetland losses is not in conflict with downstream water rights as long as the proposed restored or created wetland has a plant community that is hydrologically equivalent to the impacted site (e.g., a site with a sedge meadow should be replaced with grasses, sedges or other herbaceous vegetation with similar evapotranspiration rates), the proposed restoration or creation site is situated such that the impact on downstream water rights is equivalent to the impacted wetland, and the size of the restored or created site does not exceed the size of the impacted site. Colorado water law is complex, and the Colorado Division of Water Resources should be consulted during the planning phase of a wetland project regarding water rights.
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