Mark Bernstein
Prior to founding Magnolia Land Partners, Mark led the analyst team and guided new market development at one of the largest mitigation banking companies in the US. During this time, he was published in the Journal of Environmental Geosciences for contributing to the development of a new condition assessment protocol employed in wetland and stream mitigation throughout the state of Pennsylvania. Mark holds a B.A. (cum laude with departmental honors) in Environmental Science and Economics from Northwestern University and is a member of the inaugural class of Venture For America.

Opportunity/Challenge

The US has a “No Net Loss” policy for wetland preservation that requires developers to offset any project-related wetland damage by creating replacement wetlands through a process called wetland mitigation. Developers in Louisiana spend over
$100 million each year on mitigation projects, but many of these projects have limited environmental benefit. Magnolia is working to make mitigation a valuable source of funding for critical wetland restoration projects in Louisiana.

Impact

• 2,000+ acres of Louisiana wetlands under contract for restoration, mitigation, and permanent protection.

• Developing wetland mitigation projects projected to generate $20 million in revenue at an average of $20,000 per acre in mitigation credits