News
Bay Bank Partners with USDA NRCS on Conservation Program Implementation
August 27, 2009
The Bay Bank was one of three projects selected in a nation-wide competition to participate in the Cooperative Conservation Partnership Initiative (CCPI), a program of the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS).
The goal of the program is to prepare participating farmers and woodland owners for engagement in emerging ecosystem market opportunities, including nutrient trading and forest conservation. Ecosystem markets provide farmers and woodland owners with the opportunity to diversify their income and engage in conservation activities funded by sources other than incentive programs such as EQIP.
The CCPI is a unique program authorized in the 2008 Farm Bill that allows the NRCS to partner with outside organizations to implement new and innovative approaches to delivering cost-share dollars from the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP), and the Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program (WHIP).
Some ecosystem markets require participants to establish or meet a “baseline” prior to participation. For carbon markets, landowners must know their existing carbon stocks in order to quantify increases in carbon sequestration as a result of implementation of conservation practices. The increased carbon sequestration may be eligible for sale as carbon credits. In regulatory nutrient markets, producers must meet statutory requirements for nutrient runoff. Reductions beyond what is required by the regulations may be eligible for sale as nutrient credits. The Bay Bank will work with NRCS through the CCPI program to help producers meet market requirements through the implementation of conservation practices. In addition, producers who are reluctant to engage in markets now will receive guidance on what practices are likely to generate marketable ecosystem services that can be sold in the future.
Bay Bank will implement this program through partnerships with NRCS, Maryland and Delaware soil conservation districts, the American Forest Foundation, MARBIDCO, and Chesapeake Fund.
