Episode 158. Conservation Easements and Ecosystem Service Markets

In this episode of Voices from the Field, NCAT Sustainable Agriculture Specialist Colin Mitchell interviews Chad Ellis, CEO of the Texas Agriculture Land Trust (TALT) and a board member of the Ecosystem Service Marketplace Consortium (ESMC).

Colin works out of NCAT’s Southwest Regional Office in San Antonio, Texas, and among other projects works with NCAT’s ATTRA sustainable agriculture program.

Colin and Chad discuss the role of TALT in the creation and monitoring of conservation easements for working farms and ranches. Chad also explains conservation and mitigation banking and how TALT helps facilitate those opportunities.

Chad and Colin then move on to talk about ecosystem service markets, especially carbon markets, in detail. Chad highlights the work being done at the ESMC, including current pilot projects and the program’s future ability to allow farmers and ranchers to gain market credits from multiple benefits they provide – including carbon storage, water quality and quantity, and wildlife habitat conservation.

This podcast is part of a project conducted in collaboration with Dr. Barbara Bellows of Tarleton State University and the Texas Institute of Applied Environmental Research and is funded by Southern Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SSARE) through research and education grant LS17-277, Indicators and Soil Conservation Practices for Soil Health and Carbon Sequestration. A special thanks to Dr. Bellows and SSARE.

ATTRA Resources

Payments for Ecosystem Services

Other Resources

Texas Agricultural Land Trust

Ecosystem Service Marketplace Consortium

Southern Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education

Texas Institute for Applied Environmental Research

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