Conservation easements are voluntary agreements between landowners and government or non-profit organizations which restrict landowner actions in return for financial and lifestyle benefits to the landowner. While easements are often used to purchase the development rights of a property, conservation easements can also be used as part of a payment for an ecosystem services scheme. Typically, those who supply ecosystem services are not rewarded for all of the benefits they provide to others because markets for their services have not been developed. Arguably, the most prominent reasons why markets for ecosystem services rarely exist are the uncertainty about ecosystem processes, an inability to define market and non-market services, and a lack of funds with which to compensate ecosystem service providers. In order to assess the potential for payments for ecosystem services to be included in the price of future conservation easements, we evaluated the current value of ecosystem services provided by rangeland properties with conservation easements in Sonoma County, CA. A basic evaluation of the multiple benefits of current conservation easements was conducted, qualifying the economic return on investments of these purchased easements. We developed an assessment tool, using InVEST®, to map and value the goods and services from rangelands. The generated information will be used to support the structuring of future conservation easements such that they take into account measurable increases in ecosystem services provided by rangeland owners. This tool can be used by both private and public lands owners to apply the incremental value received by conservation easements.
Oral presentation and poster titles, abstracts, and authors from the Society for Range Management (SRM) Annual Meetings and Tradeshows, from 2013 forward.