The Bay Bank is a conservation marketplace that facilitates private landowner access to existing and emerging programs that offer money for implementing conservation projects. The Bay Bank communicates the “rules of the road” and guidance on how to develop projects for:
- Forest Conservation
- Habitat Conservation
- Water Quality Restoration
- Carbon Sequestration
- Federal Cost-Share Programs
The Bay Bank does this through a suite of nationally unique conservation tools. The tools are flexible and new information can be included for any conservation program. As an example, Bay Bank increases participation in Maryland’s forest conservation banking programs through:
- A web-based tool called LandServer that provides farmers and woodland owners with a quick and easy natural resource assessment report, an evaluation of their property’s potential to receive payments for implementing conservation actions, and information on how to get started and create and account with the Bay Bank;
- Educational resources for landowners to help them understand forest conservation banking, how they can engage in banking, and costs and benefits of the program;
- Linkages with state certified project developers to facilitate the easy development of forest banks;
- Project design and credit calculation tools tiered to county regulations;
- A marketplace where landowners can post their credits for sale and facilitate contacts with credit buyers and;
- A registry that keeps track of credit sales
Bay Bank is currently working with the Maryland Forest Service, Prince George’s County, and Forestry for the Bay to develop private landowner forest conservation banks and seeks to work with other counties in the state. For more information, contact Eric Sprague at esprague@pinchot.org or 410.267.5734.
The Maryland Forest Service-endorsed tools were developed using private foundation, state, and federal grant dollars in order to increase the pace of conservation by lowering transaction costs for conservation buyers, regulators, and landowners alike. Bay Bank is a not-for-profit program of the Pinchot Institute for Conservation.
