News Summary for 4/21-5/2

Projects
- Regional ecosys market – non-prof NW Nat Res Group receives EPA targeted w’shed funds for market-like projects in Nisqually w’shed, WA. Includes promoting sust cert of ag/forest products, creating wq trading credits from sust ag/forest mngt, conservation easements.

- GHG offsets – EDF focusing on CA working lands; pilot test with rice farming mngt practices & will market credits.

News
- All things Mitigation - Ecosystem Marketplace’s Mitigation Mail
---Ecosys Marketplace 1st of series of articles on new WL miti rules. Past pres. of Nat Miti Banking Assn thinks new WL regs will triple priv WL miti banks from 500 to 1500 in 3-5 yrs. > transparency – required docs have 2B posted online. New timeline (<1 yr) for the Corps to approve miti. Skepticism: that WL f(x) can be maintained w/ miti, can str really B restor?, unintended conseq: miti occurs away from urban areas (hi pr land)
---Ecosys services standards in Farm Bill – House version would have USDA in charge, with input from DOI, DOE, Commerce, DOT, EPA, ACOE; Senate version – build standards framework w/ collabor stakeholder process. Supposed to decide 4/18.
---2007 ELI Report Miti of Impacts to Fish and W’life Hab: Est Costs and ID Opps – 1st ever annual cost compens miti from fed programs is ~$3.8bill ($2.9bill-404 permits, $370mill-HCPs, $417mill-hydropower miti, rest-nat res damage miti). Could target those $s to st w’life action program priorities.
---Charlotte Co interested in buying scrub jay habitat for new miti bank
---WA ag comm protesting taking ag land out of production for WL miti bank, suing; bank says it’s ag land b/c includes native seed/plant nursery
---New Forests launched $100mill Eco Products Fund – invest in forest-based C, biodiv, water ecosys services (SE Asia, Pac Is, Latin Amer). Selling biodiv credits to palm oil manu in Borneo.
---New CA Sandhills conserv bank
---OR Willamette valley WL miti credits expensive: $65k-90k
---private co Canopy Capital buys 1mill ac Guyana rainforest in hopes of future ecosys service compens – 16% of profits would go to the co, 80% (!) to local comm., 4% to research instit

- WL Miti – Science article (Stokstad, vol 320:5873) on Final Rule WL miti - presents sci as alarmed/ troubled/ worried about some aspect of WL/str miti, w/ minor defense from the Nat W’life Fed & ACOE rep's quoted saying things along the lines of this is pretty good/ we're addressing that concern

- C – cap&trade won’t break the bank says EDF. Evidence from 5 major studies = if reduce 60% by 2050, would slow eco growth by 0.03% yr. @ odds with industry study – lose mill’s jobs.
- C – new Google-type search plants 2 trees for every 1,000 searches (offsets 1 ton GHG)

- Biofuels – NYT Op ed about biofuels as darling/baddy, stresses don’t throw baby out w/bathwmg but refocus on those with env bene & no subsidies.
- Woody biomass – article re: as housing market slows, mills slow, wood waste decr -> decr S for biomass NRG plants. Chip prices are up 50% since last year.

- Drinking water – Forest Service Forests, Water, and People Assessment highlights priority private forests in the Northeast and Midwest that are imp for drinking water
- Flood retention svcs – Google earth to include flood threat on mapping
- Misc – new Water Footprint calculator. Basic version – if you live in the US and are not a vegetarian, your footprint will be large; scales up with income.

- Certif – NBC Nightly News highlighted sust logging on FSC-cert forest.