Committees

The infrastructure committee engages on a broad range of federal agency initiatives and the White House Infrastructure Plan, with a focus on describing how our industry currently does and could further streamline permitting and improve project delivery. The committee is comprised of a diverse cross section of ERBA’s membership to bring a well-rounded perspective to our DC communications. Most recently the committee put together a targeted list of recommendations for the USACE and EPA on mitigation reform, which has served as the catalyst for ongoing collaborative discussions with regulators. The committee also responded to multiple agency federal notices regarding regulatory reform opportunities in line with the Administration’s infrastructure goals. 

The Membership Committee works to implement a new membership dues structure via an effective recruitment strategy and new members outreach initiative. This committee makes recommendations to the board on improvements to our membership structure that will reflect the broader ecological restoration industry, capture more members, and accurately price the value that each member receives from the association.

The species committee is comprised of experts in conservation banking that bring deep knowledge on the field, history of species banks, and understanding of the unique dynamic species issues necessitate between federal and state regulators and private sector partners. In 2018, the committee has primarily focused on responding to the Fish and Wildlife Service’s notice on their 2016 Service-Wide Mitigation Policy and ESA Compensatory Mitigation Policy and a statement following the rescission of those policies. The committee and ERBA continue to work with trade groups representing large-scale development that use innovative conservation tools to comply with the ESA to tell their story of sustainable and environmentally responsible development. 

The technical committee plays an important role in implementing ERBA’s educational and media engagement priorities by partnering with universities on research proposals, designing and hosting membership surveys, sharing data and ideas with trade publications, and generally providing expertise on the industry to the interested public. The committee may work with other ERBA committees that have technical questions arise while drafting comments in response to a federal notice. Many of the technical committee members are veterans of the industry and have worked on mitigation banking and related projects since the genesis of the market.