An Act relative to a cranberry wetland mitigation bank

This bill establishes a pilot program in Massachusetts to create a cranberry wetland mitigation bank, allowing developers to offset environmental impacts by using approved cranberry bog lands in specific coastal watersheds. Under the legislation, the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs would oversee the program, requiring bog landowners to grant permanent conservation easements that permanently prohibit future agricultural use of the land. The program is designed to provide off-site mitigation options for public and private projects only when on-site avoidance or minimization of wetland impacts is not feasible, with detailed administrative rules to be developed within 150 days of the bill's effective date.