Oregon Ecosystem Service Market Legislation

http://www.leg.state.or.us/09reg/measures/sb0500.dir/sb0513.en.html

Knowledge Creation in EcoServices Markets

I was in Annapolis last Friday in an interesting meeting with Eric Sprague. He was helping me catch up with the Bay Bank, Chesapeake Fund, etc.  During the conversation we began to discuss the various ecosystem service efforts/projects/markets that are evolving. Both Eric and I realize that there is a significant amount of activity going [...]

USDA Office of Ecosystem Services and Markets

An  interesting article about early ideas from the new Office at USDA.
http://features.csmonitor.com/environment/2009/02/03/new-us-office-takes-fresh-approach-to-carbon/

USDA Announces New Office of Ecosystem Services and Markets

WASHINGTON, Dec. 18, 2008–Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer today announced the intention to establish a new USDA Office of Ecosystem Services and Markets and the creation of a federal government-wide Conservation and Land Management Environmental Services Board to assist the Secretary of Agriculture in the development of new technical guidelines and science-based methods to assess environmental [...]

2008 EPA Report on the Environment

EPA today released the “2008 Report on the Environment: Highlights of National Trends” (2008 ROE HD), which provides the American people with an important resource for better understanding trends in our nation’s health and environment. The report is intended for a general audience and summarizes highlights of the more comprehensive “EPA’s [...]

Wetlands Mitigation Banks

An interesting article on the state of debate on wetlands mitigation banks.
http://hamptonroads.com/2008/08/wetlands-destroyed-wetlands-restored-both-mean-big-profits

An Interesting Discussion

Over the past couple of days I’ve had several discussions with Rhode Island USDA NRCS about their development of a Rapid Watershed Assessment (RWA). The RWA gives NRCS, farmers, and conservation organizations the ability to prioritize conservation actions, determine the best economies for those conservation actions, and adaptively manage conservation and farm systems.
Part of the [...]

Agricultural Ecosystems: Facts and Trends

The World Business Council for Sustainable Development and IUCN have recently released this valuable overview of global agricultural practices and the potential of sustainable practices.
From one section:
As wealth increases so does per capita calorie intake. The demand for a more diverse diet that includes animal protein such as meat and milk products requires more land [...]

USDA CEAP

In 2003 the USDA began the Conservation Effects Assessment Project (CEAP) to quantify the environmental benefits from conservation practices on private lands. Andy Manale, a Senior Analyst at USEPA, has been working on the team and has spoken well of CEAPs work.
They have been working on a number of pilots that carefully quantify environmental effects [...]

Ecosystem Services: A 21st Century Policy Challenge

Attached is an issue of Choices Magazine which is a publication of the American Agricultural Economics Association. It is an interesting look at the farm as managed ecosystem. There is an article by the faculty at the University of Rhode Island concerning our USDA Conservation Innovation Grant…the Bobolink Project.
Here’s the link:
http://www.choicesmagazine.org/magazine/pdf/block_9.pdf