ACES and Ecosystem Markets 2012 Conference, December 10-14, 2012, Marriott Harbor Beach, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.

Burrowing owls. Photo by Lee Karney, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Come to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida in December 2012 for the ACES and Ecosystem Markets 2012 conference. ACES and Ecosystem Markets 2012 is an international collaboration of three dynamic communities – A Community on Ecosystem Services (ACES), the Ecosystem Markets Conference, and the Ecosystem Services Partnership. The conference will provide an open forum to share experiences and state-of-the-art methods, tools, and processes for assessing and incorporating ecosystem services into public and private decisions. The focus of the conference will be to link science, practice, institutions and resource sustainable decision making by bringing together ecosystem services communities from around the United States and the globe.

The conference will bring together scientists, practitioners, federal, state, and local agencies, business and financial experts, and resource managers who are interested in natural systems and their relationship with human well-being. Participants will include individuals with interests in resource management, restoration, institutions and policy, government, business, conservation, and urban and non-urban development.

We hope you will make plans to join the more than 600 anticipated participants so that you may take part in this inaugural combined discussion. For more information on how you can participate as a presenter, please go to Presentation Opportunities.

Visit the conference web site for more information.

Ecosystem Commons–connect with the ecosystem community.

Got bank? Update your Registry projects to showcase mitigation and conservation banks, payments for ecosystem services, or projects on private land that have credits for sale.

If you haven’t checked out the Conservation Registry’s newest portal, Marketplace for Nature, now is the time. If it’s been a while since you updated your projects, wait no longer.

What is the Marketplace for Nature?
Marketplace for Nature is a portal that highlights conservation and payment for ecosystem services projects designed to conserve ecosystem services by quantifying and reporting their values or marketing these benefits to regulated or voluntary buyers. Marketplace for Nature also features links to partner organizations, resources and publications, and is the online source for a suite of three metrics for ecosystem services in the Pacific Northwest.

Anyone can enter a project by registering on the site and providing a valid e-mail address. Large project data bases can also be imported. The portal is an excellent place to showcase the most innovative and successful projects to potential buyers and suppliers, and to a wide range of other practitioners, policy-makers, and investors.  Please visit the site and enter as many ecosystem service projects or payment programs as you have.

Which conservation projects fit the Marketplace for Nature profile?

• Wetland mitigation banks;
• Wildlife conservation banks;
• Conservation/restoration projects on private lands that have credits for sale, including, but not limited to carbon, water quality and quantity, fish and wildlife habitat, pollinator habitat and biodiversity;
• Payments for Ecosystem Services Projects or Programs (either operational or in the design phase);
• Projects on public land where ecosystem services are measured and reported;
• Specific locations where research on ecosystem services is being conducted.

Who uses the Marketplace for Nature portal?
Buyers and sellers can use the portal to find one another and conduct transactions off line. Conservationists, businesses, and government agencies can learn about ecosystem services, payment programs and markets by examining the projects profiled on the site and consulting the many online resources made available to them.

Marketplace for Nature projects:
Southeast Alaska In-Lieu Fee Mitigation Projects. Southeast Alaska Land Trust is looking for land in Prince of Wales Island and the Ketchikan Gateway Borough for in-lieu fee mitigation projects.

Caliente Ranch. The Nature Conservancy’s Conservation Buyer program protects endangered Kern primrose sphinx moth in California.

CleanWater Services. Water resources management agency in Oregon trades water quality credits based on temperature.

New data fields added to the Registry's data entry screens.

Marketplace for Nature
The Marketplace for Nature portal in the Conservation Registry highlights conservation projects designed to conserve ecosystem services by quantifying and reporting their values or marketing these benefits to regulated or voluntary buyers. Marketplace for Nature also features links to partner organizations, resources and publications, and is the online source for the oak habitat, floodplain habitat and sagebrush/sage grouse metric calculators and user’s guides.

Which conservation projects fit the Marketplace for Nature profile?

• Wetland mitigation banks;
• Wildlife conservation banks;
• Conservation/restoration projects on private lands that have credits for sale, including, but not limited to carbon, water quality and quantity, fish and wildlife habitat, pollinator habitat and biodiversity;
• Projects on public land where ecosystem services are measured and reported;
• Specific locations where research on ecosystem services is being conducted.

New data field to capture ecosystem services
The Registry now features nine additional data fields to capture information about credits for sale, credit types, third party verification and quantifying ecosystem services.

Who uses the Marketplace for Nature portal?
Buyers and sellers can use the portal to find one another and conduct transactions off line. Conservationists, businesses, and government agencies can learn about ecosystem services and markets by examining the projects profiled on the site and consulting the many online resources [http://marketplace.conservationregistry.org/about/resources] made available to them.

Habitat metrics available the portal:
There is a growing interest in measuring conservation “outcomes” as opposed to just implementing management practices in scattered locations and hoping for the best. The habitat metrics on this site are among several ecological measures that have been developed to help managers determine where to invest limited resources and how to calculate the ecological impact and improvement associated with the implementation of conservation actions.

The Marketplace for Nature portal is the place to download the metric calculators and user’s guides for:

• Floodplain habitat
• Oak habitat
• Sagebrush/Sage Grouse metrics

Check back for updated versions and additional resources.

My Registry project has ecosystem services and/or credits for sale. How can I get it into the Marketplace portal?
If you already have projects in the Conservation Registry and you believe your projects might fit the portal, please go to My Registry, click on My Projects and open your project for editing by clicking the yellow pencil icon under Actions. Select Organizational Assignment under the General category. It is the second screen after the title and description screen. Once your project is accepted to the portal, it will be visible the next time you log in.

My Registry project is already in the portal. How did that happen?
In an effort to populate the portal to demonstrate its effectiveness, Registry staff captured over fifty interesting projects. Though your project is listed, it does not mean the new data fields have been filled out. Login and edit your project to get the full benefit of the Marketplace for Nature portal.  If for some reason you prefer not to have your project assigned to this portal, let the Registry administrator know and it can be removed. Either way, the project will still be in the Registry and accessible through multiple searches.

View these projects and see how it works:

• Eugene Water and Electric Board (EWEB) Voluntary Incentives Program
  Participating landowners will receive annual payments for maintaining high quality riparian and/or wetland habitat on their properties.
• The Bobolink Project
  The Bobolink Project seeks to establish farmers’ provision of habitat as a service they can sell to consumers. It hopes to expand to a national model for market-driven provision of ecosystem services resulting in vibrant communities, farms, and ecosystems
• Cranstons Mill Pond Nutrient Bank
  Water quality and nutrient trading in the Cheaspeake Bay area.

The Conservation Registry welcomes a new portal partner, Metro’s Regional Environmental Information Network.

Metro, the regional government for the Portland metropolitan area, transferred its Regional Environmental Information Network (REIN) to the Registry in February.  This data collaboration was accomplished in two phases. During Phase I, the portal architecture was built, an urban growth boundary map layer was added to the mapping tool, and over 400 projects were imported to the Registry. During Phase II, existing user accounts were updated and transferred to the Registry so that users would continue to enjoy the functionality they were accustomed to at the Metro site.

As the elected regional government for the Portland metropolitan area, Metro works with communities, businesses and residents to create a vibrant and sustainable region for all. The regional Environmental Network, launched in 2006 as part of Metro’s Nature in Neighborhoods initiative, enables municipalities, nonprofits, schools and other partner organizations to enter environmental education, restoration, low-impact development, and natural area acquisition project information directly into The Conservation Registry’s online portal. Metro uses the quantitative and qualitative data to track the region’s ecological health over time and to encourage stakeholder collaboration.

“It’s a more user-friendly and powerful platform,” said Nature in Neighborhoods Coordinator Corie Harlan. “You’re able to enter information in and pull information out more easily.”

The Regional Environmental Information Network includes 435 projects at 569 sites; Metro’s long list of project partners includes the Tualatin Basin Invasive Species Working Group, Clackamas County Soil and Water Conservation District and Portland Parks & Recreation Bureau.

The Conservation Registry’s interactive website enables users to view conservation projects by bird region, watershed and congressional district. The Registry’s partner organizations include the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, Pacific Coast Joint Venture, Wildlife Habitat Council and Colorado Plateau Cooperative Ecosystems Studies Unit.

Projects to check out:
Apache Bluff Preserve. Planting native riparian vegetation in Washington County. New feature added to this portal is HUC6 subwatershed orientation.

Residential Green Roof built by Oregon State University master gardeners. An urban project that works to reduce impervious surfaces.

2012 is the year of the National Conservation Easement Database

The National Conservation Easement Database (NCED) is the first national database of conservation easement information. Where can you find it? Here at the Conservation Registry. The Easement Database provides data on over 80,000 easements and 18 million acres of land.

Conservation easements are voluntary legal agreements between landowners and conservation entities (public agencies or land trusts) for the purpose of protecting natural resources such as drinking water sources, open space, and vital wildlife habitats. Until now, information on these lands was scattered and incomplete. Through the NCED portal in the Conservation Registry these resources are now accessible in one free, transparent and trackable service. Combining the Easement Database with other land databases that show parcels conserved in public ownership, such as Conservation Registry projects, gives users the most extensive look yet at protected lands in America.

The U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities, with generous support from the Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, the Knobloch Family Foundation, the Graham Foundation, and the USDA Forest Service, assembled a group of five conservation organizations that have extensive local and regional experience working with conservation easements and data systems. The team consisted of the Conservation Biology Institute, Defenders of Wildlife, Ducks Unlimited, NatureServe and the Trust for Public Land.

Easement records were compiled from land trusts and public agencies throughout the United States. This public-private partnership unites national conservation groups, local and regional land trusts, and state and federal agencies around a common objective. The NCED provides a comprehensive picture of the estimated 40 million acres of privately owned conservation easement lands, recognizing their contribution to America’s natural heritage, a vibrant economy, and healthy communities.

Why the Conservation Registry?
Although the database is available through several other web sites, the Conservation Registry was selected as the public face of the database because of its ease of use and familiarity for most users. Open source software and Google Maps make the Registry the most accessible choice, especially for those users without a GIS background.

Additional data fields have been added to the system in order to capture more in depth, easement data. As you explore the portal, check out some of the state reports to see what those new attributes are.

Most importantly, the Registry is voluntary and secure. The National Conservation Easement Database respects landowner privacy and will not collect names or other sensitive information, security which the Registry was able to provide.

Fore more information, go to NatureServe to view fact sheets.

Puget Sound in Washington, showing easement projects (purple) and Conservation Registry projects (orange).