The preserved space was once the proposed site of Xanadu, but was set aside for preservation in 2005 after the state allowed the company to build around the stadium. The owners, the Meadowlands Conservation Trust (MCT), has designated approximately 250 acres of the land as the first phase of a mitigation bank. The bank would work by the trust taking monetary lease bids by a qualified environmental company to mitigate the land from a phragmite-dominated stretch of the Meadowlands to a more natural, wildlife-friendly wetlands preserve.

In return, the company would hold mitigation credits, which can be sold to state transportation authorities that require the credits as part of the destruction they cause to wetlands in other parts of the Meadowlands due to construction. Bids will start at $15,000 an acre for the lease and are expected to filter into the MCT this summer. At minimum, it could net the MCT approximately $3.8 million to further maintain the Kane Tract and acquire other property for preservation as well.

"This endeavor could be either economically or environmentally driven," said MCT Executive Director Tina Schvejda. "The Trust is embarking on this project with the intent of having the environment as the highest concern while remaining fiscally solvent."

Schvejda said once a company is finally chosen in September, according to the MCT bid package, the company will in turn have four possible state entities to sell the credits to. These include the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the New Jersey Department of Transportation, New Jersey Transit or the New Jersey Turnpike Authority. She said NJ Transit will most likely be a viable bidder when the credits are put up for sale because it will need them for work done on the rail station and additional tracks that are covering wetlands for the new transit hub at the Meadowlands Sports Complex.

She said it would most likely take a minimum of five years to see mitigation efforts complete, but the company that leases the property and runs the bank would stand to make a hefty profit, so she’s confident the request for proposals will be competitive. RFP packages alone will cost a prospective company $500, so the MCT is confident that will weed out any companies without plans to seriously take this on.

"Whoever is awarded this bid, we’re looking for a very successful project down to our specific criteria," she said. "We estimate it costs between $100-$160,000 to mitigate [per credit authorized], but they can easily double their profits because there’s not much land left to do this."

Before the company would be able to put any credits up for sale, it would need approval from both the MCT and the U.S. Army Corps. of Engineers that the mitigation criteria was properly adhered to. Schvejda said 96 percent of the Kane Tract is currently inundated with phragmites, an invasive reed. The first goal she said would be to eliminate the phragmites and improve the hydrology of the land so it’s more inviting to a more diverse crowd of wildlife. Shifting to a more bio-diverse wetlands, she said, would also enable the Kane Tract to act as a natural toxin sponge, absorbing toxins in surface and ground water before it reached the Hackensack River.

"This is the liver, not the lungs of the Meadowlands. It can be, when properly done, a major aquifer of toxins flowing to the Hackensack River," said Schvejda. "A very successful wetlands this size could also be a major hub for the migratory wildlife. The Meadowlands is a major migratory hub, but now, you don’t see much waterfowl in there, not much flora or fauna."

In March, the EPA in coordination with the U.S. Army Corps. of Engineers announced regulations that would expand and further promote the use of mitigation banking nationwide, while tightening the belt on the planning, implementation and management of the banks. The rules build upon the essential beginning of the use of mitigation banks in 1995.

"The new standards will accelerate our wetlands conservation efforts under the Clean Water Act by establishing more effective, more consistent and more innovative mitigation practices," said EPA Assistant Administrator of water Benjamin Grumbles.

Within New Jersey, there are currently 10 operational mitigation banks throughout the state with the exception of what will become the Kane’s mitigation bank. In all, the banks cover the responsibility of mitigating 2,200 acres. Thus far, mitigation efforts have resulted in the creation of 250 available and authorized mitigation credits.

MCT Chair and Hackensack Riverkeeper Bill Sheehan said the bank not only ensures that the mitigation efforts will be used to offset local wetland destruction that occurs in the Meadowlands. He said it would give the MCT a substantial economic flow to further acquire and mitigate land elsewhere in its coverage area, which is not only the Meadowlands, but also the entire Hackensack River Watershed. The watershed extends north all the way to the New York State border.

"The great thing about the Trust is it was set up by the state legislature to ensure land is preserved, but the bad thing is we don’t get a budget from the state," said Sheehan. "This deal will create revenue for the Trust and I think in these budgetary times, it makes more sense to raise our money instead of hanging out in Trenton with our hands out like everyone else."