Mitigation Process

When it is determined that mitigation is required, it is the responsibility of the lead Federal agency to reach out to any and all potentially interested parties. Interested parties will vary project to project, but can often includes such groups as the local community, any Certified Local Governments in the area, local historical societies and/or museums, any Tribal organizations, and the general public. The Federal agency will schedule a meeting with all of the interested parties, usually in or around the effected community. The purpose of this meeting is to discuss the project, its impacts, and begin discussing compensatory mitigation options. For larger or more complicated projects, multiple meetings may need to happen to ensure that agreement is reached on what would be the appropriate mitigation measures.

Once the parties have agreed upon what will be done to mitigate for the adverse effect, the Federal agency and SHPO (and in some cases, the local government or other parties) will draft and sign a Memorandum of Agreement, which will spell out everything that is to be done as part of the mitigation, and by whom, and in what time frame. This is the legal agreement between all of the involved parties.