Bank Service Areas

Bank Service Areas (BSAs) are geographic regions based in part on watershed boundaries. These BSAs were established for use in two similar wetland regulatory programs in Minnesota including the Minnesota Wetland Conservation Act (WCA) and Section 404 of the Clean Water Act. BSAs guide the siting and prioritization of compensatory wetland mitigation/replacement for both programs, particularly regarding the use of wetland banks and in-lieu fee program. Both programs prioritize locating compensatory wetland mitigation/replacement in the same BSA as the impacted wetland under the presumption that wetland functions and values are more likely to be similar in the same geographic region.