WRP to host first Landscape Auction in USA
May 21, 2010
The WRP will host the first Landscape Auction in the United States on August 14, 2010 at Vermont Technical College in Randolph Center, VT. The WRP received grant funding from the USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service and Forest Service to pilot this new market mechanism in partnership with Triple E, a Dutch consulting firm.
Landscape Auction
A Landscape Auction is a live auction that allows individuals, groups, and businesses to “adopt” elements of a landscape. Example elements include public access to a specific natural resource, the improvement of threatened wildlife habitat, or the management of a working landscape. While the landowner remains the owner of the element, the highest bidder enjoys a tangible connection to a specific, threatened resource and to the landowner who maintains that resource. Proceeds from the purchase go to the landowner to guarantee the continued protection of the landscape element.
Landscape Auctions originated in The Netherlands as a new financing tool to attract private capital for nature conservation and landscape protection. Over the past three years, Triple E (the company that developed the concept) has been successful raising private funds to conserve haystacks, windmills, tulip fields, etc. – anything and everything that makes up the landscape – in Europe.
How Does It Work?
In collaboration with Triple E, the White River Partnership has recruited a group of 9 watershed landowners whose land use practices highlight the diversity of the watershed’s geography and working landscape. These participating landowners have selected “landscape elements” that are in need of financial support, and have calculated the management costs involved to protect these elements for a given period of time (for example 10 – 20 years).
During the auction, participating “buyers” will place a bid for these landscape elements. The successful bidder will “adopt” the element by paying the landowner the management costs calculated for the respective element. To insure that the funds raised during a Landscape Auction will be spent appropriately, the White River Partnership will sign contractual agreements with the landowners and the successful bidders. Bids are tax-deductible as payments go directly to a charitable organization.
Who Can Participate?
Any business, organization, or individual that is looking to safeguard the White River watershed’s landscape, is invited to attend the August 14 event and to participate as a “bidder.” More information about specific auction items will be available soon!
For More Information
For more information about Landscape Auctions in general, visit the Triple E website. Contact us for more information about the Landscape Auction in the White River watershed.
News
Posted: May 21, 2010 by wrp_admin
WRP to host first Landscape Auction in USA
WRP to host first Landscape Auction in USA
May 21, 2010
The WRP will host the first Landscape Auction in the United States on August 14, 2010 at Vermont Technical College in Randolph Center, VT. The WRP received grant funding from the USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service and Forest Service to pilot this new market mechanism in partnership with Triple E, a Dutch consulting firm.
Landscape Auction
A Landscape Auction is a live auction that allows individuals, groups, and businesses to “adopt” elements of a landscape. Example elements include public access to a specific natural resource, the improvement of threatened wildlife habitat, or the management of a working landscape. While the landowner remains the owner of the element, the highest bidder enjoys a tangible connection to a specific, threatened resource and to the landowner who maintains that resource. Proceeds from the purchase go to the landowner to guarantee the continued protection of the landscape element.
Landscape Auctions originated in The Netherlands as a new financing tool to attract private capital for nature conservation and landscape protection. Over the past three years, Triple E (the company that developed the concept) has been successful raising private funds to conserve haystacks, windmills, tulip fields, etc. – anything and everything that makes up the landscape – in Europe.
How Does It Work?
In collaboration with Triple E, the White River Partnership has recruited a group of 9 watershed landowners whose land use practices highlight the diversity of the watershed’s geography and working landscape. These participating landowners have selected “landscape elements” that are in need of financial support, and have calculated the management costs involved to protect these elements for a given period of time (for example 10 – 20 years).
During the auction, participating “buyers” will place a bid for these landscape elements. The successful bidder will “adopt” the element by paying the landowner the management costs calculated for the respective element. To insure that the funds raised during a Landscape Auction will be spent appropriately, the White River Partnership will sign contractual agreements with the landowners and the successful bidders. Bids are tax-deductible as payments go directly to a charitable organization.
Who Can Participate?
Any business, organization, or individual that is looking to safeguard the White River watershed’s landscape, is invited to attend the August 14 event and to participate as a “bidder.” More information about specific auction items will be available soon!
For More Information
For more information about Landscape Auctions in general, visit the Triple E website. Contact us for more information about the Landscape Auction in the White River watershed.
Posted: May 21, 2010 by wrp_admin
Spring grant awards
Spring grant awards
May 21, 2010
The WRP has received three project grants this spring to continue our good work!
Wellborn Ecology Fund
The Wellborn Ecology Fund granted $29,000 to help the WRP initiate a school-based river monitoring program for 9 towns in Vermont’s White River watershed. This grant will fund the first phase (Phase I, May 2010 through December 2010) of a 3-year program focused on river monitoring projects that promote student service learning and watershed health. The aim of Monitoring the White River will be to create a vibrant program for our schools and offer an effective educational model to the broader region.
Vermont Watershed Grant
The Vermont Watershed Grant program granted $13,000 to the WRP to help coordinate our 2010 Watershed Stewardship Program (Program). Since 1996, the WRP has recruited over 500 annual volunteers to participate in hands-on watershed restoration activities, including planting trees, monitoring water quality, managing non-native invasive species, and cleaning up the river. By raising awareness about watershed resources, mobilizing community volunteers, and facilitating local stewardship, the Program is crucial in helping the WRP achieve its mission to bring people and local communities together to improve the long-term health of the White River and its watershed.
Grant In Aid
The Grant In Aid program is providing $3,000 in funding to help the WRP raise awareness about preventing the spread of rusty crayfish, a non-native invasive species. In 2005, the WRP and Vermont Institute of Natural Science conducted a survey of rusty crayfish in the White River watershed. Of the 94 crayfish collected, 80 of them were rusty crayfish or rusty-resident hybrids. The vast majority of the rusties and rusty hybrids were found in the mainstem of the river, indicating that a serious invasion was occurring there. The WRP will use Grant In Aid funds in 2010 to conduct various education and monitoring activities with community volunteers to help prevent the spread of rusty crayfish in the watershed.
For more information about participating in these projects, contact us!
Posted: March 23, 2010 by wrp_admin
VT House passes didymo bill
VT House passes didymo bill
March 23, 2010
Due to the spread of didymo and other aquatic invasive species, several states, including Vermont, have already enacted or are proposing legislation to ban felt-soled wading shoes.
H.488
Vermont Representative David Deen has introduced a bill in the Vermont Legislature banning the manufacture and sale of felt soled waders, which was amended to ban the use of felt soles in the waters of Vermont. The bill has passed the House and is now in the Vermont Senate. For more information about House bill 488, visit this link, type in “H.488” and select “Display Status.”
For more information about didymo, visit our Didymo Resources website.