What are ‘biodiversity offsets’?

Published 2:00 pm Saturday, August 26, 2006

Island joins five nations in conservation pilot project.

If money doesn’t grow on trees, it’s probably also true that trees don’t grow on money.

But trees may grow on the barter system, according to Ray Victurine.

“Incentives can help us achieve more,” said the island conservationist and the city’s Community Forestry Commission member. “There are limits to regulations, there are property issues and legal issues and limits to what we can buy. Incentives can help us go beyond, and holistically maintain our forests.”

Victurine and the commission helped position Bainbridge as a world leader in crafting new “biodiversity offsets,” aimed at preserving natural areas through voluntary trade-offs with land owners and businesses.

The island was selected this month for one of six pilot projects areas by Forest Trends, an international conservation group based in Washington D.C. Bainbridge joins Uganda, Ghana, South Africa, Mexico and Qatar in the Business and Biodiversity Offset Program.

This global cross-section is aimed at measuring the program’s effectiveness among different geographies and economies.

The scale of the projects are also diverse. In Africa, the BBOP is crafting multi-million dollar operations in partnership with international mining corporations.

The Bainbridge project, by contrast, has no budget and will receive mostly technical assistance and advice from BBOP staff as the commission and city planners craft initiative-based policies to conserve forests and wildlife habitat.

“This is a golden opportunity for Bainbridge,” said Mayor Darlene Kordonowy, who has given enthusiastic support for the program. “There’s a lot of potential for what this can teach us and help us achieve the landscape we want on the island.

“It’ll take us in areas we’ve never gone before (and) put us on the leading edge of this kind of work.”

Bainbridge was chosen, in part, to demonstrate how local governments can partner with developers on conservation projects.

It also helped that Victurine also serves on Forest Trends’ advisory board.

“(Forest Trends) liked the idea because the whole idea of the pilot project is to look at various project types – from small to large,” he said. “Bainbridge has a lot of (environmental) diversity. It’s contained, as an island, and we’re looking at a loss of biodiversity in forests and coastline. It’s an interesting opportunity for a learning laboratory.”

The island’s growth and support for innovative conservation programs also made Bainbridge an ideal candidate for the program, Victurine added.

Others have taken notice, including the Washington Biodiversity Council, a state government project established in 2004 to develop and promote new conservation efforts.

The council is in talks with the city’s forestry commission to share information and possibly partner on an upcoming forum.

The commission was exploring numerous policy concepts based on incentives and other trade-offs with land owners before Bainbridge was named to the BBOP.

Some local proposals in the works include an update of city tree retention policies, Compre­hensive Plan amendments offering urban density bonuses in exchange for open space preservation and a review of the city’s development rights transfer program.

The program may also help Bainbridge develop a system to measure biodiversity losses and gains. As a broad example, Victurine said new initiative-based policies could entice a developer to set aside part of a property as open space for increased building height allowances.

Two developers have already signed on to take part in the project, according to city staff.

“The idea of zero net loss (of biodiversity) is a good fit for Bainbridge,” said developer Kelly Samson, who has offered to include a three-acre residential project at the intersection of Grow Avenue and Wyatt Way as a “guinea pig” for the program.

Samson plans to offer one acre as open space for increased density allowances under existing city rules.

A larger development planned on the island’s south-end could test the program in a more rural setting, according to city planner Marja Preston.

“It’s possibly the political climate, but you see in the regulations for critical areas and in the City Council that people are more in favor of voluntary stewardship programs,” Preston said.

The Bainbridge program could also inspire similar policy changes in other Washington communities and in other government agencies, according to Victurine.

“Take the ferry maintenance yard,” he said. “We could work with the state ferry system to develop offsets that enhance the coastline. It seems worthwhile to include that in our discussions with the ferry service.”

Victurine and Preston plan to present the Bainbridge project at BBOP’s second annual conference in South Africa at the end of September.

It’s possible Bainbridge will host an additional BBOP conference featuring government representatives from the five other nations and the state biodiversity council next spring.