News Summary for 5/17-6/3

Projects
- Nonmarket Valuation – BBC World “Nature Inc.” – “a new series that reveals the true value of nature by putting a price tag on it.” 1st install – bee pollination & CA almond groves June 13th 19:30GMT.
- W Flow – new FS project looks at beavers/fens restor/reintro in Rocky Mtn region to incr w retention capacity as CC adaptation. Contact: Trey Schillie

News
- Farm Bill (USDA website)
---“Passes” (w/snafu) on 5/22 (veto overridden)
---5-yr, $307 bill - $4bill for conservation ($188mill for Ches Bay)
---Lang to help env svcs markets but no funding (“develop uniform standards for quantifying environmental services; establish credit registries; and offer credit audit and certification services”)
---New grants for buying community forests; cost share for emergency for restor; state forest assess & plans; forest “CIG”-type grant program; wood-to-NRG program
---Some, but not much reform of subsidies (see Economist slam)
---Ecosystem Marketplace summary
---Summary of forestry-related items by Northern Forest Alliance Exec Dir George Gay
---Summary of Conservation Title from American Farmland Trust

- All things Mitigation - Ecosystem Marketplace’s Mitigation Mail (5/30)
---FL bill to regulate sea grass loss/damages fine facing veto as last-min amend to allow mitigation banking angers enviros. Crit: miti = net loss
---a NJ conserve trust is putting land up for bid to dev/sell WL miti (but not own the land). Bids start at $15k. Could bring the org $3.8mill.
---TX County has HCP for review that sets up cons miti bank (birds, karst invertebrates) for roads, schools, utilities, pub or priv dev, etc. in Co.
---Charlotte County plans to buy scrub jay (TES) habitat crit: $$, would be preserved by landowner anyway (additionality), pub access concerns
---Another Co gets crit re: additionality of cons miti plan on pub land bought for conservation. Sounds like idea to create bank spurred by dev D/ lack of miti S
---Another gov gets crit re: additionality/net loss – ME DOT + partners planned to restore WL for restoration’s sake, then decided to turn it into a WL miti bank for their uses.
---Miti industry consolidation – Wildlands Inc. buys Acer Environmental (GA/NC)
---Australia’s BioBanking has RFP for landowners to dev/sell biodiv credits, sign biobanking agree

- Cons banking/ Regulatory drivers – US House Nat Res Comm/GAO investigation finds USFWS could have “trumped science with politics” on 8 ESA [de]listing decisions (of ~200 investigated). Looks like FWS jumped the gun in delisting. Pol interference could create unnaturally weak demand-driver for cons banking. House Nat Res Comm site, GAO report (70p), News article summarizing GAO official’s testimony to the House Nat Res Committee

- WQT – Ecosystem Marketplace article on Vol W Mkts reviews basics of D drivers (even if “vol”, gotta have reg driver)/players (regulated PT source, unreg ag sector) in WQT; ag prefers to stay under the radar of regulation/gov (eg – verifiers on farms); WQT price must entice - no D if ag prices high; state policies can work against D (ex – MD “flush tax” paying for PT source poll reduction).

- C – PG&E RFP asks for up to 1mill tons GHG emiss reduction via CA CCAR-verified projects to use customers’ vol offset $s. Deadline 7/2.
- C tax – SF Bay air qual mngt auth 1st in US to charge businesses fees to emit GHG. Will raise $1.1mill from 2500 businesses (ex fees: ~$1/yr for service station -> $50k+/yr for oil refinery). [Q: and do what with it?]
- REDD – New Forests continues S Asia roll (orangutan miti in Malaysia, selling biodiv credits to palm oil manu in Borneo) w/ REDD arrange w/ Indonesia regional gov for up to 1mill hectares forest.
- REDD in the USA – NPR story on N CA forest mngd by Pac For Trust –old trees capture/store > C > quickly than younger trees; variable standards of vol C offsets; CCAR

- Nonmarket valuation –U MD Center for Agroecology study on multi ecosys svcs, incl: maximizing forest mngt for C seq & timber, recre values ($96/day trip, $400/overnight trip), existence value of forests ($200-$375/person/yr). Press release, News story
- Nonmarket val – EU/Germany report: world env damage and species loss from forests costs $2.1-$4.8 trill/yr (NPV). Other world-scale val studies in draft stage: gen biodiv loss, coral reefs, Meditterr coastal WL, env bene of flood/erosion risk mngt, cost of species/hab plans.
- Nonmarket val – Tufts U/NRDC research – cost of not addressing CC (esp from hurri damages, real est loss, incr NRG costs, w costs) in US is $3.8trill/yr by 2100.
- Nonmarket val – CA Forest Assoc’s summer mag is all about link betw forest -> clean water/ consistent flow, W & CC, etc.

- Certif – FSC Fam Forest Cert mtg ID’d ways 2 reduce costs assoc w/ cert, incr landowner bene, impr communic. Mtg report soon.

- Tools – NWI maps now on Google Earth
- Tools – Forestry GIS freeware

-Misc – OSU article on forest mkt drivers - TIMOs and REITs don’t care about maximizing ecosys svcs, sustaining local econ, etc. Land goes to highest val (golf course, timber, whatever). Rise of TIMOs/REITS b/c of tax law (disadvan for timber co’s to own land).

Farm Bill... could've been so much better

The 5-year, $307 billion Farm Bill was passed on May 22nd (vetoed and overridden). Here's what Ecosystem Marketplace says about the bill:

The action has direct and indirect effects on environmental markets – for not only does the new Farm Bill govern large swathes of the ecosystem marketplace, but the relatively small portion of its funding earmarked for conservation [$4 billion] still represents the federal government's largest environmental outlay...

The new Act calls for the agricultural secretary to: "establish technical guidelines that outline science-based methods to measure the environmental services benefits from conservation and land management activities."

The guidelines are to be used to develop procedures for measuring environmental services benefits, a protocol for reporting them, and a registry. Guidelines to help farmers, ranchers, and forest landowners participate in carbon markets are a priority – but the bill provides no funding for the initiative. [emphasis added]

Both Ecosystem Marketplace and The Economist note that the real loss in this Farm Bill is the lack of reform of commodity subsidies. The Economist slams the Bill as one giant income distribution mechanism, funneling tax dollars to rich farmers (average income: $230,000)

Here'a a summary of the conservation title, courtesy of American Farmland Trust

News Summary for 4/5-4/20

- Gov Incentives – Land Econ article (Suter, Poe, & Bills, 2008) concludes that 1-time sign-up bonuses are > cost-effective at incr cons than increases in annual payments.
- Gov Incen – US Forest Service will spend $54 mill on cons ease on working forests via Forest Legacy Program in ’08. 35 projects in 32 states
- Gov Incen – NOAA is requesting comments by June 9 on revisions to Coastal and Estuarine Land Conservation Program (CELCP)
- Cons Finance – REDD in the USA? some individuals in AR bought forest land, asking folks to lease it for $200/yr per 1k sq ft.

- WQT – Ches Bay watermen considering suing state agencies re: water quality & economic impacts; potential driver for TMDL regulation in the Chesapeake, wqt.

- REDD – Marriott signs agreement w/ Brazilian state (Amazonas) to protect trees. Gives $2mill for 1.4mill acres.
- C tools – COMET-VR to pair up with COLE.
- C tools – Wilderness Society report criticizes USFS’ COLE, C Calculation tool, other tools – good effort, but coarse scale. News story, report

- Renew NRG – Waste Management going to open 60 new landfill gas-to-energy facilities. Dell HQ is using 100% of the power from 1st Austin TX facility.
- Renew NRG – CO Universities, Nat Renew NRG Lab, businesses partner on C2B2 (CO Center for Biorefining and Biofuels) to research biofuel/refining tech.
- Cellulosic biomass – Iowa State U, ConocoPhillips, Nat Renew NRG Lab partner on dev tech for converting (mostly ag) non-food cell biomass into transportation fuels.

- Misc – U of Missouri research – the public prioritizes local env issues. Top 3: local drinking water, reducing US water poll, impr urban air poll issues like smog. Global warming is 8th.
- Misc – over 50% of paper used in US is recovered for recycling.

News Summary for 3/24-4/4

Meetings / Seminars
- WSJ ECO:nomics, Creating Environmental Capital conference - was invite only/$$$ & w/lots of big-wigs. Wal-mart: we’re not sure when we’ll get to 0 waste and 100% renew NRG. GE: capitalizing on green tech. Governator: re-think nuclear? Rainforest Action Network: kickin’ it old school, crashes party & slams ADM re: palm oil (w/schoolchildren petitions, no less). Summary of conference
- WQT – just came across a 2/21 PA Sen Repub Policy Committee hearing on Ches Bay nutr reduction goals. Speculations on why nutr trading isn’t going gangbusters. Main points below, audio file here
- C – Western Climate Initiative Offsets Subcommittee – discussed what will qualify as offsets under WCI’s cap&trade (incl role of forestry, ag). Draft proposal out ~May. PPTs

News
- WL miti – EPA/Corps issue official reg’s on wetland miti (had been just guidance). Changes: gives pref to miti from (in order): mitigation banks, in-lieu fee programs, ~on-site mitigation (big change b/c on-site was previously 60% of miti); watershed-scale miti gets pref; in-lieu held to miti bank standards; approval process has timelines. Regs, detailed analysis, news story
- All things Mitigation - Ecosystem Marketplace’s Mitigation Mail
---Species recovery credits – if there’s TES habitat on gov land, agency (ex – Army) can shift respons of protecting habitat to adjacent landowners. Criticisms: less accountabil than cons banking (mngt/monitoring plans, ecological milestones); no endowments to cover unforeseen exp; long-t mngt stays w/ landowner (as opposed to a cons group); less/no transparency (/landowner confidentiality).
---Pomo tribe (CA) creating WL miti bank to miti for development w/in their lands
---GA school board to set up a WL miti bank on their lands
---WA state lets local gov give final approval of WL banks
---rural WA credits go for $75k, Seattle/Belleview credits go for $400-500k
---new 500-acre bank in MS

-WQT – MD announces final [point-to-point source] nutrient trading. Have to upgrade WWTPs before can trade.
- WQ – Nature article on study of (72 US) streams’ ability to absorb N: 10-20% w/in 1 hour. As incr N loads, “precipitous drop” in abil to absorb. Impli: if incr N (say, from incr biofuels prod), more N pollution/dead zones. Mullholland et al., 2008, Nature, vol. 452.

- All things C - Ecosystem Marketplace’s V-Carbon News
---TNC has vol C credits to VCS & CCS standards from project in LA, pricey ($20/credit)
---JPMorgan buys UK C offset co
---Env Defense has RFP for potential offset providers on new FightGlobalWarming.com, which helps co’s buy hi-qual C offsets
- C – new WY legis: 1) estab state reg framework for C seq projects, 2) gives owners surf rights the rights to underground CO2 storage
- C – AgraGate (subsidiary IO Farm Bureau) does 15-yr forestry contracts (afforest, sust mngt), pools credits, sells on CCX, pays landowners (- service fee). Currently has 100 contracts/60k acres afforest in southern US.
- C – CCX C prices rising, from low of $1.70 last year to $5.70 last week (b/c all 3 pres candidates are talking about C cap&trade)
- C seq – forest industry study concludes managed forests seq 2x more C than unmanaged

- Planning – program/tool Corporate Ecosystem Services Review (WRI) - ~EMS-ish, but easier, review risk/opp/strategies from ecosys service perspective. xls/ppt/cases to help
- Planning –Ecosystem Services: A Guide for [public sector/gov] Decision Makers (WRI)- a how-to framework for taking es into account in economic/social policy decisions. Story/case study provides ex of how to imple
- Woody biomass –NV plant (designed to power prisons) halts production. Blames USFS, says can’t get supply; USFS counters: we have S, it’s just transport $$ to get to plant.
- Incen for conserve – article re: 3,600 forestland conservation easements in US, held by 16 states & 355 cons org’s (from survey of land trusts/gov easement holders w/ ~50%response rate). Failure to address shortcomings (lack/poor baseline, record keeping, professional mngt plans) = lose legitimacy.
- Incen for conserve – 1st time in 2 years farmers can sign up for CSP in these watersheds
- Info – Dovetail report, basic explan of forest opp’s in eco-markets, emph on C (16p)

- Internat PES – WWF/CARE Guatemala studies on: hydro, eco val, w’shed selection, legal framework (in Spanish). Contact
vreyes@wwfca.org
- Certification – WWF new focus on certif., how it can val env services (can you get a price premium?, actually impr biodiv?, does is impr rural incomes?). Contact Pablo.gutman@wwfus.org
- PES – new website, ex’s of PES around the world