SERVICE AREA & CREDIT DETERMINATION: BALANCING ECOLOGICAL & ECONOMIC FACTORS

Presented live on December 8, 2020, this webinar provides a nuts and bolts review of how the type and number of credits are determined for a conservation bank and how the extent of the service area is determined. For each topic, case studies ranging from the straight-forward to the complicated are shared, along with lessons-learned and emerging trends from the field. Striking the balance between ecological and economic needs is discussed from diverse perspectives. 

It is recommended that participants view Webinar 1: The Market & Regulatory Drivers for Conservation Banking prior to viewing this webinar.

Webinar #5 Recording

Presenters

Scott Chiavacci, US Geological Survey (schiavacci@usgs.gov)
Greg DeYoung, Westervelt Ecological Services (gdeyoung@westervelt.com)
Stephanie Ehinger, NOAA National Marine Fisheries (stephanie.ehinger@noaa.gov)
Dana Herman, US Fish & Wildlife Service (dana_herman@fws.gov)
Michelle Mattson, US Army Corps of Engineers Institute for Water Resources (michelle.l.mattson@usace.army.mil)
Deblyn Mead, Bureau of Land Management (dMead@blm.gov)

Webinar Materials:

• Speaker Bios (PDF)

Service Area Determination Presentations:

• Mattson: USACE Approach (PDF)
• Herman: USFWS Approach (PDF)

Credit Determination Presentations:

• Mead: Overview (PDF)
• DeYoung: Westervelt Case Studies (PDF)
• Ehinger: NMFS Case Studies (PDF)
• Chiavacci: USGS Quantification Tools (PDF)

Service Area Resources:

1. Amato, Brumbaugh, DeYoung, et. al. “Service area discussion.” National Wetlands Newsletter. Vol. 36 No. 2, pp. 9-17. [DOWNLOAD PDF]
2. Denisoff. Reconciling Watersheds and Ecoregions: What’s in a Number? National Wetlands Newsletter 33(1), 2011. [DOWNLOAD PDF]
3. Womble, P. and M. Doyle. The Geography of Trading Ecosystem Services: A Case Study of Wetland and Stream Compensatory Mitigation Markets. Harvard Env. Law Review. 36:229-296 + app. [DOWNLOAD PDF]

Credit Determination Resources:

1. Chiavacci, Scott F. and Emily Pindilli. A Database of Biodiversity and Habitat Quantification Tools Used in Market-Based Conservation. USGS Science and Decisions Center and USDA Office of Environmental Markets Fact Sheet. July 2018. [DOWNLOAD PDF]
2. Chiavacci, Scott F. and Emily Pindilli. Trends in Biodiversity and Habitat Quantification Tools Used for Market-Based Conservation in the United States. Conservation Biology, February 2020. [DOWNLOAD PDF]
3. NOAA Damage Assessment and Restoration Program. Habitat Equivalency Analysis: An Overview, May 2006. [DOWNLOAD PDF]
4. Pindilli, Emily and Frank Casey. Biodiversity and Habitat Markets – Policy, Economic and Ecological Implications of Market-Based Conservation. USGS Circular 1414, 2015. [DOWNLOAD PDF]
5. Willamette Partnership. Measuring Up: Synchronizing Biodiversity Measurement Systems for Markets and Other Incentive Programs. Report to USDA, 2011. [DOWNLOAD PDF]
6. Zambello, Erika, Lydia Olander, Emma Glidden-Lyon, Emily Meza, and Jessica Wilkinson. “Trends in Measuring Biodiversity and Ecosystem Function in Mitigation Quantification Methodologies.” NI-WP 19-01. Durham, NC: Duke University, 2018. [DOWNLOAD PDF]

Web Resources:

• NOAA NMFS Puget Sound Nearshore Habitat Conservation Calculator https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/west-coast/habitat-conservation/puget-sound-nearshore-habitat-conservation-calculator
• Nevada Conservation Credit System (sage-grouse) http://sagebrusheco.nv.gov/CCS/ConservationCreditSystem/
• USACE RIBITS https://ribits.ops.usace.army.mil/ *after selecting the banks in RIBITS for the examples in this session, open the “Cyber Repository” to find documents for the crediting metrics
• USGS Database of Biodiversity and Habitat Quantification Tools Used for Market-based Conservation in the United States https://www.sciencebase.gov/catalog/item/5aa94672e4b0b1c392f14b17
• Willamette Partnership Ecosystem Credit Accounting System http://willamettepartnership.org/market-tools-rules/