| | Conservation Incentives
Market-Based Conservation Incentives Workshop: Strategies for Family Forest Owner Participation in Biodiversity and Water Markets
With over 115 attendees from NGOs, federal and state natural resources agencies, academia, the private investment sector, forestry consulting, and family forests, the event successfully brought folks together to focus on the challenges and opportunities of increasing the use of market-based approaches for conservation on family forest lands.
Our current challenge is building upon the momentum to work together in addressing the priorities outlined during the two days. Conversations have already begun as to how to link many of the ongoing projects and develop tools to improve efficiency. Hopefully our discussion inspired thought and action that will contribute to keeping family forests and their associated ecosystem services intact.
Presentations and Audio Recordings
Conservation Incentives (CI) works with partners to promote and develop incentives and market-based solutions for family forest owners to sustainably manage their lands by conserving and enhancing a multitude of ecosystem services.
Over 10 million family forest owners hold 262 million acres in the United States. Development and land use change on these lands is occurring at an alarming rate. The best means of combating these pressures and advancing conservation on private lands is through voluntary efforts. However, many family forest owners interested in managing for ecosystem services and declining wildlife species often lack the necessary resources and have concerns regarding regulations and lack of future management options.
Market-based conservation initiatives and regulatory assurances provide effective incentives for active forest management in the form of financial and technical assistance to encourage family forest owners to sustainably manage their forests. In addition to wood products, actively-managed forests provide important ecosystem services such as species habitat, water quality and quantity, and carbon sequestration.
Until recently these ecosystem services were not properly valued, creating a system that benefited the public, but cost the providers — family forest owners. CI works to promote conservation incentives and develop and implement markets, such as conservation mitigation banks, habitat credit trading systems and water trading markets. These market-based tools have proven to be effective, enabling landowners to become better stewards of their lands while realizing new income opportunities. Innovative conservation incentives will turn private forests into an even greater asset, encouraging sustainable forestry, and combating biodiversity loss, fragmentation and land use change.
Development of these markets would not be possible without working in partnership with state and federal resource agencies, non-profit organizations, landowner associations, military installations, family forest owners, and other stakeholders. Through collaboration, CI works to raise the level of demand for ecosystem services and increase the awareness of the benefits of active forest management for conservation-reliant species and water quality. Through landowner outreach, demonstration projects and market development, CI will promote models that properly compensate family forest owners who offset the unplanned impacts of development and military projects.
Examples of 2008 Conservation Incentive projects:
Gopher Tortoise Habitat Credit Bank
Gopher tortoise habitat has declined significantly due to development, fragmentation, and the lack of active management. For species with geographic ranges predominately on private lands, meeting the needs for recovery can be largely dependent on management decisions made by family forest owners.
The gopher tortoise is currently federally listed in the western portion of its range and a petition has been filed to list the eastern population as well. CI is working with Federal and State agencies and other conservation groups to develop and implement, on a pilot-basis, a gopher tortoise habitat credit bank focused on private lands in Georgia and Alabama to help preclude the need to federally list the eastern populations. Creating a market would enable Federal agencies and developers to purchase conservation credits (issued to landowners for successful management outcomes) to offset their impact.
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