| | Market-Based Conservation Incentives Workshop Agenda
Tuesday, September 9th
| 4:00 pm | Hotel Check-In and Workshop Registration Begins (Waterford Lobby) | Wednesday, September 10th | 7:30 – 8:45 am | Workshop Registration & Continental Breakfast (Waterford Lobby) | | 8:50 – 9:30 am | Ecosystem Markets and Family Forest Owners (Waterford Room)
Over 10 million family forest owners hold 262 million acres of land in the United States. Land use change on these acres is occurring at an alarming rate, and as private forest lands are developed we lose the ecosystem services they provide. One of the best ways of combating development pressures on private lands is through voluntary conservation incentives. But many family forest owners interested in managing and conserving their land lack the necessary resources; others are skeptical or are concerned by regulation. Market-based approaches to conservation have the potential to capture the value of ecosystem services and provide an effective incentive for family forest owners to own and sustainably manage their forests.
Welcome and Introduction
Larry Wiseman, President and CEO, American Forest Foundation
Opening Address
Robert Bonnie, Vice President, Land Conservation and Wildlife, Environmental Defense Fund | | 9:30 – 10:15 am | The State and Trends of Ecosystem Markets (Waterford Room)
Ecosystem services provided by working forests - such as clean water, species habitat, and carbon sequestration - have always been undervalued. Ecosystem markets are increasingly recognized as a way to capture the value of these benefits and address natural resource issues. This session will focus on the current state and trends of ecosystem markets and discuss who’s buying, who’s selling, and opportunities and challenges for market-based conservation.
Katherine Hamilton, Associate Director, Ecosystem Marketplace
– View Presentation
|  Hear audio from Larry Wiseman, Robert Bonnie and Katherine Hamilton
| | 10:15 - 10:30 am | Coffee Break (Waterford Lobby) | | 10:30 – 11:30 am | Market Development: A Collaborative Approach (Waterford Room)
Biodiversity offsets and payments for watershed services may provide effective incentives to turn private forests into even greater assets, encouraging sustainable forestry and addressing fragmentation and land use change. This panel will explore collaborative market-based approaches across the country.
Moderator
Katherine Hamilton, Associate Director, Ecosystem Marketplace
A Watershed Model for Water Quality Services and Rural Economies in New York
Tom O'Brien, Executive Director, Watershed Agricultural Council
– 1st Presentation | 2nd Presentation
Creating Economic Opportunity through Ecotourism in North Carolina
Frank Casey, Director, Conservation Economics Program, Defenders of Wildlife
– View Presentation
Building a Multi-Credit Marketplace in the Willamette Basin of Oregon
Sara Vickerman, Senior Director, Biodiversity Partnerships, Defenders of Wildlife
– 1st Presentation | 2nd Presentation
| | 11:30 am – 12:30 pm | Market Mechanisms, Tools, and Operation: What Works? (Waterford Room)
Ecosystem markets are quite complex and may fall short of their goals without the right structure and design. Tools and programs must enable buyers and sellers to find each other in easy and transparent ways, quantify the benefits of ecosystem restoration, and increase awareness of the financial and legal risks associated with market participation; organizations must be identified to register, verify, and track credits as they are created and sold. Panelists will discuss market mechanisms and the necessary tools to make ecosystem markets work.
Moderator; NRCS Market-Based Incentive Programs
Carl Lucero, Clean Water Program, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service
Legal and Financial Aspects of Markets and Managing Risk
Dan Spethmann, Managing Partner, Working Lands Investment Partners, LLC
– 1st Presentation | 2nd Presentation
Tools to Match Buyers and Sellers/ Bay Bank and the Spatial Land Registry
Eric Sprague, Program Director, Pinchot Institute for Conservation
– 1st Presentation | 2nd Presentation
Ecosystem Services Marketing: The Role of a State Agency
Hughes Simpson, Program Coordinator, Texas Forest Service
– 1st Presentation | 2nd Presentation
| Hear audio from Market Development and Market Mechanism Panels
| | 12:30 – 1:40 pm | Lunch (provided) (Tiffany Lobby) | | 1:45 – 2:45 pm | Golden-Cheeked Warbler Recovery Credit System (Waterford Room)
Golden-cheeked warblers are federally endangered due to the loss of mature juniper-oak woodlands. Under the Recovery Credit System, Fort Hood pays landowners to restore habitat in areas vital to the warbler's recovery. In exchange, Fort Hood receives "credits" it can use if it harms nesting sites on the base. Landowners receive financial assistance for practices that help both the warbler and their cattle, after committing to a contract and contributing to restoration costs. Panelists will discuss how this voluntary, market-based program works with landowners to conserve endangered species
Moderator
Becca Madsen, Biodiversity Program Manager, Ecosystem Marketplace
Project Facilitator/Landowner Outreach
David Wolfe, Ecologist, Land, Water & Wildlife Program, Environmental Defense Fund
– 1st Presentation | 2nd Presentation
Regulating Agency
Joy Nicholopoulos, Texas State Administrator for Ecological Services, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Region 2
– 1st Presentation | 2nd Presentation
| | 2:45 – 3:45 pm | The Willamette Partnership (Waterford Room)
The Willamette Partnership is a diverse coalition of leaders working to shift the way people value, manage, and regulate the environment. The Partnership is developing an ecosystem services marketplace that attracts strategic investments in conservation and restoration activities and structures ecosystem transactions - from storing carbon and cooling river water to mitigating floods and providing fish and wildlife habitat. Panelists will discuss current efforts in the Willamette Basin.
Willamette Partnership Coalition
David Primozich, Executive Director of the Willamette Partnership
Offset Credit Buyer
Bobby Cochran, Environmental Marketplace Analyst for Clean Water Services
– 1st Presentation | 2nd Presentation
| Hear audio from the Golden Cheeked Warbler and Willamette Partnership Panels
| | 3:45 – 4:15 pm | Networking Break (Waterford Lobby) | | 4:15 – 5:00 pm | Question and Answer Panel
This moderated “talk show” session will dive into additional elements of ecosystem markets and provide workshop participants an opportunity to expand on the day’s discussions and pose questions to the panelists.
Moderator
Sara Vickerman, Senior Director, Biodiversity Partnerships, Defenders of Wildlife
Panel
Steven Koehn, Director/State Forester, Maryland Department of Natural Resources/Forest Service
Deblyn Mead, National Conservation Banking Coordinator, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
Paul Friday, Marine Corps Installations East (MCIEAST) Community Plans and Liaison Coordinator
Radha Kuppalli, Director, New Forests, Inc. | Hear audio from Question and Answer Panel
| | 5:00 pm | Workshop Adjourns | | 6:00 – 7:30 pm | Networking Opportunity and Cocktail Reception (Wedgewood Lobby)
Select Exhibits on Display |
Thursday, September 11th
| 7:00 – 8:00 am | Continental Breakfast (Hotel Check-Out by 12:00 p.m.) (Waterford Lobby) | | 8:15 – 8:45 am | Recap of Day One and Setting the Agenda for Breakout Sessions (Waterford Room)
Todd Gartner, Manager, Conservation Incentives, American Forest Foundation
Beth Larry, National Ecosystem Services Specialist, USDA Forest Service
– View Presentation
| Hear audio from Recap of Day One Panel
| | 8:45 – 10:00 am | Moving Ecosystem Markets Forward: Breakout Session (Waterford Room)
The second day of the workshop will be devoted to identifying a path forward for promising ecosystem markets and tools. By drawing on the case studies and lessons presented in Day One, participants will explore how market-based projects and tools can be improved and replicated.
Participants and a facilitator will break out into small groups to focus on one of the topics below. Each group will be provided a brief description of the conservation project and specific questions aimed at developing a road map to implement and/or improve these initiatives and tools. A spokesperson from the group will present the group’s ideas to workshop participants after the break.
Ecosystem Markets/Tools Menu - Gopher Tortoise Habitat Credit Bank
- The Bay Bank Initiative
- Forest-Based Watershed Protection Incentive Model
- Willamette Partnership
| Hear audio from Moving Ecosystem Markets Forward Panel
| | 10:00 – 10:15 am | Coffee Break (Waterford Lobby) | | 10:15 – 11:00 am | Breakout Session continued: Small Group Presentations (Waterford Room)
Each group will deliver a five minute presentation to workshop participants, followed by questions and discussion. | | 11:00 – 11:50 am | Platform for Ongoing Dialogue and a Way Forward (Waterford Room)
Workshop participants will explore ideas that emerged from the workshop discussions and the break out sessions, identifying common opportunities and obstacles. An intended outcome of this final session is to develop priorities or next steps for moving together to improve and advance markets for biodiversity and water.
– View Presentation
| | 11:50 am – 12:00 pm | Closing Remarks and Wrap-up (Waterford Room)
Todd Gartner, Manager, Conservation Incentives, American Forest Foundation | Hear audio from Platform for Ongoing Dialogue and Closing Remarks Panels
| | 12:00 pm | Workshop Adjourns/Hotel Check-Out |
Workshop Agenda | Speaker, Panelist, & Facilitator Bios | Participant List |
