WRI Stories Feed: Southern Forests for the Future

Bringing Ecosystem Markets to Scale in the Southern United States

Logan Yonavjak — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 13:15:11 -0400

For the most part, Ecosystem Markets still linger in the early stages of development. There is much more theoretical work to be done to set up environmental credit markets, including carbon offsets and payments for watershed services. But more…

Payments for Watershed Services: Pilot Projects for Watershed Protection

Erin Gray — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 10:56:09 -0500

Forested watersheds of the southern United States provide numerous services to the region. At no cost, they purify water, control flooding and erosion, and provide places for people to relax and have fun. Yet despite their value, many…

“Candidate Species” Marketplace Can Help Protect Gopher Tortoise Habitat

Todd Gartner — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 10:29:21 -0500

This piece was written with Josh Donlan and James Mulligan of Advanced Conservation Strategies.

Hundreds of imperiled wildlife species across the country are…

Carbon Canopy Initiative Aims to Sustain Appalachian Forests for Climate and Certified Timber

Logan Yonavjak — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 12:46:05 -0500

While much has been written from a theoretical perspective about markets for ecosystem services, few on-the-ground projects currently exist. Yet the projects that do exist provide one of the best windows onto what actually works in…

Top Ten Counties Losing Forests to Development In The U.S. South

Craig Hanson — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 09:57:02 -0400

Today, WRI releases a new map that identifies the hotspots where urban and suburban development are putting forests at risk in the southern United States. Areas experiencing the most forest loss to development between 2001 and 2006 (the most…

Conservation Easements: a Good Investment for the U.S. South

Logan Yonavjak — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 11:05:47 -0400

With forests being converted at a rapid pace in the South, conservation easements are one of the most promising approaches to conserve and…

Ecosystem Markets Conference: Innovative Ideas Drive Ecosystem Markets Forward

Nick Price — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 14:45:30 -0400

Using markets to protect and restore ecosystems – and the many services they provide – is gradually becoming a reality. Market-based systems have already protected hundreds of…

2011 Ecosystem Markets Conference: Innovating Ways to Reward Conservation

Robert Winterbottom — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 13:29:58 -0400

Wisconsin is a state blessed with abundant natural beauty and was home to one of America’s first conservationists, Aldo Leopold. Leopold recognized that beyond commodities,…

Property Tax Incentives for Forest Conservation in the U.S. South

John Talberth — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 15:54:24 -0400

Current use valuation programs can encourage landowners to resist development pressures and leave forest as forest.

Development pressure on the outskirts of cities throughout the southern United States drives up land values and makes it more difficult for private landowners to keep their forestland. On average, in the South, short term returns for development can be $36,000 per acre. And for private landowners who want to keep their forest, rising property taxes can also provide a perverse incentive, because as the fair market value of the land increases, property tax bills rise. To help pay these increased taxes many landowners often resort to selling at least a portion of their lands despite their intention to keep their forests intact.

Current use valuation programs, as illustrated in a new WRI issue brief Current Use Valuation Programs: Property Tax Incentives for Preserving Local Benefits of Forests, are a tax benefit that states and counties in the South are using to encourage forestland owners to leave forest as forest and help resist development pressure. Under these programs, enrolled lands are assessed not at their fair market value (for housing development and the like) but at their value for timber production and other forest uses. This lowers the tax bill for landowners, improves the profitability of timber production, and helps reduce development pressure.

Road blocks to implementing effective Current Use Valuation Programs

Current use valuation programs exist throughout the South, but the scale of their implementation and overall effectiveness is limited for a variety of reasons. For example, some programs still provide low financial returns to landowners relative to the opportunity cost of development. Additionally, there are concerns from many local governments about the impact of reduced property taxes.

WRI’s report argues that overcoming these obstacles will require more consistent and accurate analysis of the overall fiscal impacts of current use valuation programs to determine whether protecting forests and other forms of open space result in a net drain or net surplus when the cost of providing community services is taken into account. Cost of community service studies and other forms of fiscal impact analysis demonstrate that by helping counties avoid infrastructure and community service costs (such as roads, electricity, and sewer infrastructure) of new residential developments, such programs can often save money in the long term (Figure 1).

Figure 1: Dollars Spent on Community Services per Dollar in Tax Revenue Received: Range of Values from Cost of Community Service Studies in the South, 1997-2007, (click to enlarge)

The report also discusses how a variety of modifications to existing programs will increase their popularity among local governments and landowners.

How can Current Use Valuation Programs Promote the Conservation of Forests?

This report outlines four changes to current use valuation programs that could make them more effective, as applied in the South.

Designated state reimbursement fund. States can offer reimbursement funds similar to the one pioneered in Georgia to help alleviate county concerns over short-term fiscal impacts from drops in property tax revenues. Reimbursement funds can be targeted at forestlands specifically rather than open space in general to provide a more direct link between current use valuation and forest protection.
Longer covenant (contract) periods. States and counties can extend covenant terms to match the minimum rotation age for commercial forest management. Extending covenant terms to 20 years or more would ensure that lands protected under current use valuation programs would be of sufficient age to generate income streams from the sale of commercial forest products. Extending covenant terms would also help reduce speculation on lands enrolled for shorter periods.
Management for ecosystem services. States and counties could increase the flexibility of current use valuation programs to allow landowners to enroll lands that provide important ecosystem service benefits but not necessarily cash income from the sale of forest products. Building in this flexibility would make it easier for landowners to enroll and help states and counties meet important objectives related to environmental conservation and improved quality of life for residents. This flexibility would also improve the economics of maintaining land in current use valuation status relative to conversion, by saving landowners the expense of investing in timber or crops when they otherwise would not have chosen to do so.
Extending current use valuation programs to restore forest cover on marginal farmland. On agricultural lands, states and counties could encourage forest restoration on marginal and idle cropland by removing crop income requirements for enrollment. Providing tax incentives to farmers who want to let these lands naturally transition back to forest could help increase the extent of southern forests by millions of acres in the decades ahead.

Implementing these changes to current use valuation programs could help alleviate concerns about the bottom line, and bolster the long-term effectiveness of current use valuation programs throughout the region. In addition, these changes could increase the acreage of southern forest protected from development and instead managed for timber, water, wildlife habitat, recreation, scenery, erosion control, watershed protection, reduction of flooding hazards and other ecosystem services increasingly important to the well-being of southern communities.

This brief is designed to inform state, county, and municipal decisionmakers; land-use planners; and other people working to conserve and sustainably manage forests.

To learn more about southern U.S. forests, visit: www.SeeSouthernForests.org. Developed by WRI with support from Toyota, this interactive site provides a wide range of information about southern forests, including current and historic satellite images that allow users to zoom in on areas of interest, overlay maps showing selected forest features and drivers of change, historic forest photos, and case studies of innovative approaches for sustaining forests in the region. To order hard copies of this issue brief, and other briefs in the Southern Forests for the Future Incentives Series, please contact us.

Public Ballot Measures Unlock Billions of Dollars for Conservation Nationwide

Logan Yonavjak — Thu, 19 May 2011 15:26:57 -0400

A new WRI report explores what makes public ballot measures successful and how they can help conserve forests in the U.S. South.

Public conservation ballot measures are a means to secure citizen approval to raise public funds for conservation. They allow people to vote at the state or local level to approve new public funding—from bonds, taxes, lottery proceeds, or other sources—to dedicate to the conservation of natural landscapes, bodies of water, and/or farmland.

These ballot measures have a strong track record of success in the United States. Between 1988 and 2010, voters secured more than $58 billion for conservation.76 percent of proposed ballot measures were approved. In fact, these measures have received public support even during periods of economic recession, such as 1990-91 and 2008-09.

For example, Maine voters have passed five bonds to fund the “Land for Maine’s Future” program, which invested over $57 million dollars in the protection of more than 504,000 acres of land between 1998 and 2008. This acreage is more than threefold the amount acquired by funds approved by the state legislature.

But how can these measures help fund more conservation in the southern United States? The World Resources Institute’s new issue brief Funding for Forests: The Potential of Public Ballot Measures explores what makes ballot measures successful and how lessons learned can increase support for conservation of forests and other open space in the South.

Conservation-Related Ballot Measures in the United States (1998–2010): Each individual dot on the map above represents a single ballot measure. Successful measures appear to be more prevalent in areas with large population centers.

How have ballot measures fared so far in the U.S. South?

Southern states raised approximately $7.5 billion between 1988-2010 from ballot measures for conservation, with a high average passage rate of 82 percent. The passage of these measures, however, has varied significantly among states. To date, Florida and Texas have each passed more than 80 measures, while Tennessee and Louisiana have only passed 1 measure each, and Mississippi and Kentucky have not passed any measures (Table 1).

Most of the ballot measures passed tend to be local, with the vast majority at the municipal and county, rather than state level. Though local, these measures can be quite successful in raising large amounts of funding for conservation. For instance, Martin County, Florida, passed a ½ percent increase in sales tax in 2006 that approved $60 million for clean water, wildlife habitat, and park improvements.

Several factors may have contributed to the disparities among southern states.

Some states and counties experienced greater rates of population growth, and therefore development pressure, during this time period. For instance, while Florida’s population grew approximately 52 percent between 1988 and 2010, Mississippi’s only grew about 15 percent.
In some states, other uses of publicly raised funds may out-compete land conservation. For example, counties in Tennessee often use up their capacity to fund bonds by focusing on funding for educational purposes, leaving little room for funding conservation.

Table 1. Conservation-Related Ballot Measures in the Southern United States (1988–2010): (Click to enlarge)

Overall, there is significant need for ballot measures in the region to help finance conservation given that 31 million acres of forest – an area the size of North Carolina – is slated to be lost to development by 2040 in the South if current trends continue.

How can the U.S. South increase conservation funding from ballot measures?

The conservation-related ballot measure has a proven track record of use in the South. It has been effective in raising large amounts of funds, and, where applied, appears to enjoy strong public support. So what can be done to ramp up utilization of this promising approach? Several actions could help achieve this objective:

Introduce more conservation-related ballot measures. These measures have been particularly under-utilized in Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Tennessee (Table 1). The focus should be at the local level. For instance, currently only [4 percent of counties] (node/12165) in the South have passed ballot measures.
Continue to emphasize bonds but consider other funding mechanisms too, where applicable. In the South and in the U.S. overall, bonds are the most popular funding source for conservation. They allow public entities to purchase land more quickly and the payback occurs over a longer time period. In addition, most states already have the authority under existing policies to authorize bonds and give authority to counties and municipalities to do the same. Depending on what enabling authority is allowed, southern states and jurisdictions should also consider more aggressively pursuing other funding mechanisms that raise more money on average per ballot measure than bonds. For example, on a per-measure basis, lottery proceeds raised $626 million, oil and gas revenues raised $400 million, and dedicated portions of sales taxes raised $124 million, while bonds raised $32 million. It is important to assess, however, the local political feasibility of each candidate mechanism.
Leverage existing “best practice” guidance on how to design and successfully pass conservation-related ballot measures. Experience over the past several decades has generated a number of lessons learned and best practices for successfully preparing and passing conservation-related ballot measures. For instance, in polls of seven southern counties, 61 percent of citizens, on average, supported bond measures to raise funds for land conservation in their respective counties, especially when aimed at protecting water quality and drinking water sources. A number of guides are available to help members of state, county, or municipal governments, citizens, conservation organizations, and other stakeholders successfully introduce conservation-related ballot measures. These include the Conservation Campaign Toolkit and the Conservation Finance Handbook: How Communities are Paying for Parks and Land Conservation.

Conservation-related ballot measures have already unlocked billions of dollars for conservation nationwide and have tremendous potential for growth in the South. For more information and discussion on how to increase the use of public ballot measures in the South, please download Funding for Forests: The Potential of Public Ballot Measures.

To access this brief and other issue briefs in the Southern Forests for the Future Incentives Series, and to learn more about southern U.S. forests, visit: www.SeeSouthernForests.org. Developed by WRI with support from Toyota, this interactive site provides a wide range of information about southern forests, including current and historic satellite images that allow users to zoom in on areas of interest, overlay maps showing selected forest features and drivers of change, historic forest photos, and case studies of innovative approaches for sustaining forests in the region. To order free hard copies of this issue brief, and other briefs in the Southern Forests for the Future Incentives Series, please contact us.