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Vol.
2, No. 5: May 20, 2007
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The Ecosystem Marketplace's Mitigation Mail
Conservation and Wetland News You Can Bank On
The Next Generation
This month's news kicked off with the announcement of a multi-agency agreement to evaluate habitat credit trading. The Department of the Interior, US Department of Agriculture, and Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies will consider ways to coordinate programs and activities to promote the use of endangered species banking as an effective tool for species recovery. And while the US is forging ahead on national-scale species credit markets, the Australian state of New South Wales is preparing to launch their next generation biodiversity banking scheme.
Mitigation in the state of Florida also saw a great deal of coverage this month. Some of the state's large-tract owners are looking to payments for stewardship as a way to keep their properties intact. Also in Florida, the state's wetlands got a break when a controversial provision was removed from a bill streamlining regulatory processes covering wetlands. The provision would have taken local government out of the permitting process. And finally, a toll road threatens to divide an existing mitigation bank in Osceola County, while in Pasco County, a wetland banker is likely to reap the benefits, and land, from a failed real estate development deal.
Looking out toward the horizon, we would like to point out that the Business and Biodiversity Offsets Program (BBOP) will be holding a Learning Network Meeting on June 18, 2007 on Bainbridge Island. The work of BBOP is international in scope and is relevant to all interested in compensatory mitigation. Learn more about the BBOP Learning Network Meeting »
—The Ecosystem Marketplace Team
If you have comments or would like to submit news stories, write to us at mitmail@ecosystemmarketplace.com.
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USDA, DOI, AFWA Sign Habitat Credit Trading Agreement (4/13/07)
USDA, DOI, and AFWA officials signed a partnership agreement to evaluate endangered species habitat credit trading as supplemental way to preserve endangered species habitat.
– Read the US Fed News article
NSW Government to launch biodiversity fund (4/16/07)
The New South Wales government in Australia has unveiled a new iteration of its pioneering biobanking scheme. "The [biobanking] scheme is two-pronged," reported the Financial Standard on April 16. "There will be a public register that will list details about the biodiversity credits and there will be a public trust fund, called the Biobanking Trust Fund (BTF), which will manage and invest the funds received under the scheme. A substantial portion of the payment made by property developers for the credits they require to offset the biodiversity impact of their development projects are funneled into the trust fund, which then makes regular payments to the land owners, called the biobank site owners, for managing and preserving their land."
– Read the Financial Standard article
Georgia county to begin wetland banking (4/17/07)
Catoosa County, Georgia is looking to wetland mitigation banking for ecosystem restoration and to help pay for sewer construction. "I think it's an opportunity for the county to take an asset not worth much and turn it into a profitable situation," Catoosa Chairman Bill Clark said. "We get our wetlands and our creek banks taken care of at no expense to the county."
– Read the Catoosa County News article
Large-tract owners see stewardship as future (4/24/07)
Hope for wetlands: Local control vital to preservation (4/27/07)
The Editorial team at the Bradenton Herald recently declared, "There is hope for Florida's wetlands after all -- including a ray for developers as well." The editors went on to note that a bill streamlining the regulatory process covering wetlands, "now appears poised for a decisive vote in both chambers of the Legislature."
– Read the Bradenton Herald article
Carbon Dioxide Sequestration Testimony (5/1/07)
National Mitigation Banking Association board member George W. Kelly recently testified before the House Natural Resources, Energy and Mineral Resources committee.
Kelly made the case for forestry-based sequestration from the perspective of an entrepreneur in the natural resource credit business.
– Read the testimony
Interior Official Steps Down Over Rules Violation (5/2/07)
Deputy assistant secretary at the Interior Department, Julie A. MacDonald, resigned after accusations that she violated Federal rules by giving industry access to sensitive documents and even altering the results of agency scientists' work. While environmental advocates welcome this news, the mitigation community is also likely to be happy that environmental regulation will be rigorously enforced.
– Read the New York Times article
Toll road may cut at heart of nature (5/10/07)
A privately owned toll road in Florida may slice a 3,500-acre Osceola County wetlands mitigation bank in two. The property is a state and federally regulated mitigation bank...bank, and is supposed to exist in perpetuity. "Osceola County officials, though, say they need to ease traffic congestion in Poinciana and cannot afford to do so on their own. They agreed to use their eminent-domain powers to seize some of the conserved land and hand it over to developer Avatar Holdings," reported the Orlando Sentinel.
– Read the Orlando Sentinel article
Schools, wetland bank to get land (5/15/07)
According to the St. Petersburg Times, "The Pasco school district and a wetland mitigation bank are poised to carve up the spoils of D.R. Horton's abortive deal to develop the 611-acre Grantham Ranch." The paper reported that 264 acres at the ranch are under contract to go to a mitigation bank.
– Read the St. Petersburg Times article
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