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General Acquisition Evaluation Template Attachment 1 OWASA Mitigation Tract Location: Bingham Township, between Buckhorn Rd. & Mt. Willing Rd. Background OWASA owns a 490-acre tract, which they purchased in 1982 from the Weyerhauser Corporation. OWASA acquired the property to help mitigate the loss of wildlife habitat resulting from the filling of Cane Creek Reservoir. For that reason, OWASA refers to this property as the "mitigation tract." The acquisition was part of the Federal permitting process for construction of the reservoir. The irregularly-shaped tract is located in the northwest corner of Bingham Township, between Buckhorn Road and Mt. Willing Road. The primary access is from the end of Martin Road (SR 1124). A secondary access point is from the west side of Buckhorn Road. OWASA reserves this land for wildlife habitat and does not encourage public use. Property boundaries are marked with survey flagging and periodic postings of"No Tresspassing." There is evidence of some level of public use by hikers, hunters and ATVs, especially in the northern section of the tract where ATV activities have damaged a stream corridor. Overall, however, there appears to have been little adverse impact to the site from casual users and the vast majority of the forest and riparian ecosystems remain intact. The Recreation and Parks Advisory Council and Intergovernmental Parks Work Group have expressed interest in exploring whether this property could be open to the public for recreational uses, including a variety of"low-impact" uses such as hiking trails and environmental education. According to OWASA staff the State originally intended that the mitigation property be open for hunting, but OWASA policy prohibits hunting on any of its lands. OWASA is receptive to the idea of possibly making this land available for certain low-impact uses and is researching the state and federal requirements and restrictions for use of the property.