Episode 2

This is Mitigation Banking                         Show Notes

Wayne Walker
Check out his company here: http://commongroundcapital.com

Book Recommendations / Articles to Read:  
Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac and Sketches Here & There
Ricardo Bayon, Conservation & Biodiversity Banking

Habit Change:  
Use less paper towels and instead, use cool hand dryers (if available) or reusable handkerchiefs or towels.  

Sources & Additional Reading Re: Habit Change:

Episode Overview by Segments:
Minute 0:00: Learn more about our hosts, Erin Delawalla and Michael Svedeman.

Minute 1:00: Learn about some background on conservation and how we interact with wildlife in Chicago or in our free time, like Michael’s 20-day trip to hike the John Muir Trail.

Minute 7:10: Meet our guest, Wayne Walker, hear about his daily routine, and the foundation of his mitigation banking business.

Minute 9:00: State of mitigation banking markets (wetlands and streams, carbon, endangered species)

Minute 10:15: The definition of conservation and and how he got into mitigation banking.

Minute 12:15:  Wayne talks about the role that small creatures play in a local ecosystem and the challenge of protecting those species when most people are focused on iconic megafauna species (panda, tiger, elephant, etc.)

Minute 17:40: Step-by-step, Wayne describes how to start a mitigation bank.

Minute 20:45: Does mitigation banking provide a net benefit to the species? Or does it just allow us to justify erosion of these resources?

Minute 23:15: Wayne describes the importance of geographic focus with mitigation banks, also known as a “service territory.”

Minute 24:20: What was going on that made us realize that we needed to protect the environment? Not just endangered species, but also our water and air resources.

Minute 26:10: Wayne discusses his background in wind and oil & gas development and how that led him to mitigation banking.

Minute 28:50: What is required of landowners to participate in a mitigation bank? Can they still farm? What’s the incentive for them to join? (Spoiler: it provides another income stream, although it may require them to shift their practices)

Minute 32:30: How does politics factor into this? Does the average rancher or farmer value wildlife?

Minute 38:00: Why is conservation important? Why is one area more important than another to save?

Minute 41:25: Is government regulation the only way to drive these incentives? How can we create a private market for this that would align with small government?

Minute 43:35: How do we monetize conserving your property? Carbon credits might appeal to ranchers regardless of whether or not they believe in climate change.

Minute 46:05: What’s next with environmental markets? Voluntary carbon credits, voluntary species offsets, etc.

Minute 48:15: What are the long-term implications when we don’t pay attention to the environment in the short-term? How do the recent floods in Houston highlight this issue for us?

Minute 51:15: Wayne’s crazy idea for positive environmental change (start valuing whole ecosystems)

Minute 55:00: Wayne’s book recommendations.

Minute 57:00: Habit Change of the Week (break your paper towel addiction!)

Bonus Content:
Minute 0:00: Wayne gives us more detail on how he gets mitigation bank credits approved by the US Fish & Wildlife Service, and then sells them to developers.

Minute 2:15: What are the costs associated with preserving and restoring land for mitigation banks?

Minute 4:15: Wayne tells us what we really need to move this forward--more transactions in the environmental marketplace.

Minute 6:45: Difference between intrinsic value and instrumental value in conservation

Erin Delawalla