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Vol. 1, No. 3: April 10, 2006
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The Ecosystem Marketplace's Mitigation Mail
Conservation and Wetland News You Can Bank On
Back to Business
Of late, all eyes have been on the new draft regulations for compensatory wetlands mitigation (see
Breaking News: U.S. Mitigation Banking Regulations Released), but while the world weighs in on the advantages and disadvantages of the new regs, mitigation bankers everywhere are already getting back to business. In the stories that follow, we spotlight a couple of recent business developments and then catch up with some of the legal eagles, financiers and environmentalists currently studying the mitigation banking market. Last but not least, we stop to take an in-depth look at Chevron’s new mitigation bank in Louisiana and then review what some of the latest science has to say about the best location for new conservation banks.
Thanks for looking to us for all the wetland and species news you can bank on.
The Ecosystem Marketplace Team
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Wetlands Bank approved in Orange County, VA
Environmental Banc and Exchange has received approval for the Upper Rappahannock Wetlands Mitigation Bank. The 38-acre site is located along Mountain Run in Orange County, Virginia. The project expects to produce 18.6 wetland mitigation credits for developers in Orange, Culpeper, Fauquier, Rappahannock, Madison, Stafford, Spotsylvania and King George counties. Stream and wetland restoration should be completed by next spring. The current market price is $85,000 to $90,000 per acre.
– Read the article
Wildlands, Inc. receives approval for San Joaquin Kit Fox Conservation Bank, Announces Staff Promotions
Wildlands, Inc. has received approval for the 1,295-acre Kreyenhagen Hills Conservation Bank in Fresno County, California. The conservation bank was established to protect and manage habitat for the San Joaquin Kit Fox and has a service area spanning portions of Fresno, Kern, and Kings counties. Wildlands CEO Steve Morgan announced that Matt Gause and Cindy Tambini have been promoted to executive positions. Matt Gause is now the Corporate Director of Ecological Services. Cindy Tambini is now the Corporate Entitlement and Compliance Director.
– Visit the Wildlands, Inc. website
IFC Eyes Carbon Market Blueprint for Biodiversity
New Focus Urged for Improving Wetlands After DOI Report Touts Gains
On March 30, the Department of the Interior touted a 191,800-acre gain in wetlands in the Lower 48 states of the US since the last status and trends report in the late 1990s. The announcement was met with skepticism among environmental groups and some state-level EPA offices. These sources are, instead, turning their attention to the new draft wetland mitigation regulations – proposed jointly by the US EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on March 28 – in the hopes of influencing a shift from wetland acreage to wetland function in future measures of conservation progress.
– Read the article
The Effects of Mitigation Banking on People
J. B. Ruhl, the Matthews and Hawkins Professor at Florida State University College of Law in Tallahassee, Florida, and James Salzman, professor at Duke University School of Law and the Nicholas School of the Environment, have found that mitigation banking redistributes wetland resources from urban to rural areas. Their study examines the effects of wetland mitigation banks on people and their communities. Examining 24 wetland mitigation banks in Florida, Ruhl and Salzman discuss the social impacts of wetland redistribution and how to respond to them.
– Read the study
South Africa tests new waters for wetland mitigation outside Cape Town
The Western Cape Minister of Environment, Planning and Economic Development, Tasneem Essop, recently announced the approval of a Dreamworld film studio complex outside of Cape Town. "In authorising this significant development, mitigation measures will be put in place and will include appropriate buffering, the compilation of environmental management plans for both the construction and operation phases of the development and the creation of an environmental monitoring committee," said a statement released by Ms Essop's media liaison officer today.
A further condition for the film studio is an offset amount of R1,84 million to a fund to be established by the Department of Environmental Affairs and Development Planning, and CapeNature.These funds would be used for conservation purposes such as the Working for Wetlands programmes, biodiversity management and other conservation initiatives related to wetlands.
– Read the story
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by Alice Kenny
Outside of the carbon markets, corporate involvement is still rare in emerging ecosystem-service markets. In the field of mitigation banking, however, this is beginning to change. The Ecosystem Marketplace gets the latest on Chevron's new mitigation bank in the United States.
by Doug Bruggeman
Environmental markets work best when based on quantifiable estimates of ecological services. Markets for endangered species habitat are currently based on a poor surrogate for biodiversity services, namely habitat area. Researchers at Michigan State University have taken a fresh look at the problem, integrating theories in evolutionary ecology with economics. Doug Bruggeman shares the results of his research with the Ecosystem Marketplace.
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