Devin Schenk

Devin Schenk is the Mitigation Program Manager for The Nature Conservancy in Ohio, where he is responsible for establishing and managing the Ohio Stream and Wetland In-Lieu Fee Mitigation Program (OMP). He oversees the program’s highly regulated, multi-million-dollar fund, which must be spent on stream and wetland restoration projects in designated watersheds around the state. Devin collaborates with a variety of Federal, State, and local agencies, as well as other non-profits, to find optimal restoration sites and permanently protect and restore them. He is also involved in the OMP’s environmental permitting, contracting, ecological restoration and monitoring, construction oversight, invasive species control, and the land conservation efforts.

Each year in Ohio 194,000 feet of streams and 340 acres of wetlands are involved in mitigation to make up for damage permitted by development. In the past, these mitigation projects often have been poorly placed, scattered, and inconsistent in quality, resulting in an over 60 percent failure rate that has negatively impacted fresh water, endangered species, and recreational opportunities. The Conservancy developed the OMP to create strategic, high-quality restoration projects that provide strong conservation results for the benefit of both people and nature.