With the growing interest in global warming, climate change, and the influence that human activities have on our environment, there are increasing opportunities for market-based mechanisms to support responsible forestry and environmentally beneficial land use decisions.

An increasingly common market-based mechanism is the “carbon credit” which links marketplace values with the sequestration of carbon. Additional market opportunities exist and are in development for other ecosystem products and services, including payments for water, soil protection, and habitat enhancements.

Although carbon credits are currently grabbing the headlines, the take home message from the evolving “ecosystem marketplace” is that the time may be right for implementation of economic tools that link environmental cause-and-effect relationships and to more robustly reward the full range of environmental stewardship values. These opportunities include investigations of biomass energy and other bio-based products. There is also a growing need to develop tools to effectively measure and monitor these marketplace transactions.

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Current Projects:

Northwoods Carbon Credit Partnership

The Minnesota North Woods Carbon Credit Partnership, including the Aitkin and Cass County Land Departments, works to identify potential market opportunities for forest-based carbon credits and other ecosystem services.

Grand Marais/Cook County Community Biomass Energy Feasibility Study

The Cook County Local Energy Project (CCLEP) in conjunction with the Cook County Board of Commissioners desire to explore the feasibility of community-based biomass energy production in Cook County, with particular emphasis on understanding the short and long-term environmental, social, and economic impacts of utilizing woody biomass in this area. A research team lead by Dovetail Partners and including the University of Minnesota and local partners will explore the questions raised by the project and help inform the community's decision making process.

Ecosystem Market Opportunities: A Toolbox for Private Landowners

The Great Lakes Forest Alliance has launched a project to encourage forest landowners to participate in new and emerging markets, including ecosystem markets. Funding for the project is through the Northeastern Area State and Private Forestry, US Forest Service.  Dovetail Partners is a collaborator on the project.