The Principal and Nutter Ditch Mitigation Sites and the Waverly Bog Mitigation Site have been developed by the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) to compensate for a portion of the forest impacts caused by the construction of I-69 Section 5 and Section 6. The I-69 Section 5 and 6 projects involve improvements to the existing State Road (SR) 37 alignment from Bloomington to Martinsville (Section 5) and Martinsville to Indianapolis (Section 6). The goal of the I-69 project was to bring the roadway up to interstate design standards, including the construction of associated overpasses, interchanges, and connector roads. Metric Environmental, LLC (Metric) and Lochmueller Group, Inc. (Lochmueller Group) were contracted by INDOT to perform the post-construction monitoring of the mitigation site. Field inspections were performed on multiple occasions throughout the growing season as well as a collection of field data related to woody stem counts and herbaceous cover. The mitigation monitoring addresses the conditions for preservation and reforestation of forested habitat for upland forestation required through Section 7 consultation with the USFWS.   

For Section 5, Metric has been conducting mitigation monitoring since 2017 of the Principal and Nutter Ditch Mitigation Sites which comprise a total of 7.4 acres of upland reforestation and 50.8 acres of existing forest habitat were preserved to meet the mitigation requirements. For Section 6, Metric has been conducting mitigation monitoring since 2021 of the Waverly Bog Mitigation Site which consists of 37 acres of upland reforestation and 1.4 acres of wetland enhancement.