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| A large portion of the Stennis Space Center Fee Area and Buffer Zone are called “forested” wetlands by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. This means that the land, although wet, supports pine trees or hardwoods as well as shrubs. Wetlands are among the most biologically productive natural ecosystems in the world providing habitat to protect early plant and aquatic life. Wetlands also provide many benefits to us such as: flood protection; shoreline erosion control; and water quality. NASA and other agencies plan to expand operations at Stennis, so we anticipate unavoidable impacts to wetlands. NASA mitigates the unavoidable loss of wetlands due to expansion by restoration or enhancement of former wetlands. The principal types of wetlands, which would be impacted by future construction at Stennis, are pine-flatwoods and pitcher plant bogs. The SSC Mitigation Plan requires active management of mitigation areas including plantings, burning, and monitoring to achieve the objectives of the mitigation strategies. Stennis maintains four areas for wetlands mitigation to compensate for the filling of wetlands during construction activities in the Fee Area. These areas are referred to as the Pearlington Mitigation area with 712 acres, the Hardwood Enhancement Wetland Mitigation area with 15 acres, the Component Test Facility area with 6 acres, and the H-1 area with 132 acres, for a total of 865 mitigation acres. |
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