Conservation Habitat Banking Options South of the Divide - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Conservation Habitat Banking Options South of the Divide Conservation Action Program SEIMA SustainTech April 12, 2016 Tom Harrison, Executive Director SODCAP Dave Hamilton, EDI Environmental Dynamics Inc.

Presentation Overview • Background on South of the Divide (SoD) – South of the Divide Conservation Action Program Inc. – Species at risk and conservation goals in the SoD • Mitigation Hierarchy – avoid → minimize → replace • Habitat Conservation Banking – Definitions – Existing programs – How can banks be successful? – Initial thoughts on habitat conservation bank in the SoD • Questions, challenges, opportunities, next steps Habitat Conservation Slide 2 Banking Webinar

South of the Divide (SoD) • The Milk River Watershed is located in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Montana • Milk River Watershed in SW Saskatchewan is known as the South of the Divide (SoD) Photo credits: SODCAP Habitat Conservation Slide 3 Banking Webinar

SoD Location Habitat Conservation Slide 4 Banking Webinar

South of the Divide Conservation Action Program (SODCAP) • Partnership between stakeholders and government • Goal of implementing actions relating to the South of the Divide Multi ‐ Species Action Plan • Formed: 2014 • Board members include: – Saskatchewan Stock Growers Association – Saskatchewan Cattlemen’s Association – Crescent Point Energy – Ranchers Stewardship Alliance – SaskPower – Nature Conservancy of Canada – Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities – Saskatchewan Ministry of Environment and Environment Canada Habitat Conservation Slide 5 Banking Webinar

South of the Divide Conservation Action Program (SODCAP) SODCAP endeavors to: “Cultivate partnerships that contribute to development of innovative land management practices…” “Enable species at risk to recover and thrive in balance with sustainable land and resource use in working landscapes…” Photo credit: Tara Mulhern Davidson Photo credit: Krista Todd Photo credit: Krista Todd Habitat Conservation Slide 6 Banking Webinar

Background – Multi ‐ Species Action Plan • Environment Canada’s draft multi ‐ species action plan includes nine species: – Black ‐ footed Ferret – Burrowing Owl – Eastern Yellow ‐ bellied Racer – Greater Sage ‐ Grouse – Prairie Loggerhead Shrike – Mormon Metalmark – Mountain Plover – Sprague’s Pipit – Swift Fox Habitat Conservation Slide 7 Banking Webinar

SoD Species Richness Habitat Conservation Slide 8 Banking Webinar

Current Scope • SODCAP is evaluating habitat conservation banking options – What is habitat conservation banking? – What needs to be in place? – Get feedback from stakeholders • Habitat conservation banking for species at risk and their habitat – Promote a working landscape Photo credit: SODCAP Habitat Conservation Slide 9 Banking Webinar

Approach 1. Use the hierarchical approach to manage environmental impacts: eliminate/avoid → minimize → replace 2. Investigate habitat conservation banking as a new tool for: – addressing residuals impacts and – impacts to SARA critical habitat Habitat Conservation Slide 10 Banking Webinar

Hierarchical Approach to Managing Environmental Impacts Habitat Banking Net Gain No Net Loss Offset Replace Mitigate Minimize Relocate Eliminate Redesign Habitat Conservation Slide 11 Banking Webinar

Offset vs. Habitat Conservation Bank • Similarities between offsets and habitat conservation banks: – Both only become options after steps have been taken to eliminate and minimize potential project effects on the environment • Key differences between offsets and habitat conservation banks: – Habitat banks are not project specific; offsets are project specific – With a bank, habitat is created or enhanced before a project is undertaken Habitat Conservation Slide 12 Banking Webinar

Definitions for Common Understanding: Habitat Conservation Banks • Habitat banking is a method for delivering habitat compensation by building and pooling compensatory measures prior to any development actually taking place • For the purposes of the SOD area, habitat conservation banking is: – a system whereby organisations or private companies restore, create, enhance, or conserve a habitat to sell tangible units of this habitat, termed credits, to a developer or permittee Habitat Conservation Slide 13 Banking Webinar

Example from Other Jurisdictions Conservation bank after Agricultural land before habitat creation habitat creation completed Conservation bank created for giant garter snake ( Thamnophis gig as) habitat on former agricultural land (Bunn et al. 2014) Habitat Conservation Slide 14 Banking Webinar

Offset vs. Bank – Temporal Considerations OFFSET Monitoring Project Residual effect A Offset A Offset A SYSTEM complete A Residual Monitoring Project effect B Offset B Offset B complete B Time lag between project effect and offset becoming functional TIME HABITAT CONSERVATION No time lag between project effect, bank becoming functional BANK SYSTEM Project Residual effect A Bank Credit A A Project Residual effect B Bank Habitat Credit B B Conservation Bank ( established and functional ) Habitat Conservation Slide 15 Banking Webinar

Offset vs. Bank – Landscape Considerations B B A A D D Legend Species richness: C C Low Med . High X Project Offset Habitat Conservation Bank Offset residual effect Habitat conservation bank Habitat Conservation Slide 16 Banking Webinar

Habitat Conservation Banking in Canada • Has not been widely used in Canada – North Fraser Port Authority established a 6,500 m 2 wetland habitat compensation bank in 1993 – City of Kelowna was attempting to set up habitat bank for the Mission Creek watershed • Most formal and informal attempts at habitat banking have been associated with Fisheries Act compensation (Hunt et al. 2011) Habitat Conservation Slide 17 Banking Webinar

Habitat Conservation Banking in Other Jurisdictions • Habitat Conservation and Wetland banking have been used in the US since 1977 – General habitat and species specific – Currently more that 500 wetland banks in the US, with another 500 proposed • Becoming more in use in Europe • Costa Rica had a Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) in place since 1996, which protects ~250,000 ha of forest Habitat Conservation Slide 18 Banking Webinar

What Needs to be In ‐ Place • For habitat banking to be successful, Bovarnick et al. (2010), suggest that the following must be in place: 1. Policy and regulatory foundations 2. Scope for integration with Environmental Impact Assessment and permitting process 3. Potential demand for credits 4. Ability to develop banks and supply credits Subsequent slides will consider these points within the context of the SoD Habitat Conservation Slide 19 Banking Webinar

1. Policy and Regulatory Foundations • National conservation strategy will facilitate habitat bank planning – Draft Action Plan for Multiple SAR in the SoD identifies critical habitat • Offsetting is allowed under legislation (e.g., Fisheries Act 2012) and policy (e.g., Environment Canada 2012) – Consider this as a framework for conservation banks – Policy suggest conservation banks could be used as an extension of offsetting • Conservation easements are already used (e.g., Ducks Unlimited, Nature Conservancy of Canada, SODCAP) • Implementation of international conventions (e.g., Ramsar Convention [wetlands]) Habitat Conservation Slide 20 Banking Webinar

2. Integration into Regulatory Approval and Permitting Processes • Current regulatory process requires implementation of mitigation hierarchy and offsetting of residual impacts • Offsets on a case ‐ by ‐ case basis – Purchasing credits from a habitat conservation bank would also be on a case ‐ by ‐ case basis • Regulatory and Permitting Structure – A number of agencies involved in project review and approval, depending on the type of activity and location – e.g., SK Ministry of Environment, SK Ministry of the Economy, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, SK Water Security Agency Habitat Conservation Slide 21 Banking Webinar

3. Potential Demand for Credits • Hypothetical examples of projects that could effect SAR in the SoD, creating a potential demand for credits: – Saskatchewan Highways proposes a new road or road upgrade – An RM proposes to construct an access road – Oil and gas exploration and development – SaskPower upgrades to energy distribution lines Habitat Conservation Slide 22 Banking Webinar

4. Ability to Develop Bank and Provide Credits • Establishing a habitat conservation bank: – Ranchers, Grazing co ‐ operatives – SODCAP – NGOs (e.g., Ducks Unlimited, Nature Conservancy of Canada) – First Nations through Treaty Land Entitlement – Potential opportunity with divesture of former PFRA lands Habitat Conservation Slide 23 Banking Webinar

4. Ability to Develop Bank and Provide Credits • This also requires a regulatory foundation for the: – approval of conservation banks; – establishing the amount of credits available; – long ‐ term protection of conservation bank lands; and – oversight of credit/debit balance to minimize double ‐ dipping of credit • This type of regulatory mechanism is currently absent from federal and provincial legislation – Done informally with previous attempts at habitat conservation banking Habitat Conservation Slide 24 Banking Webinar