Seeking Cents of Place

The Role of Ecosystem Markets

Spatial Interest — 2009-07-09T18:26:57-07:00

No. 7, July 9
Sally Collins shared her perspectives on the role of ecosystem markets in a conference keynote address (Ecosystem Markets: Making them Work). The 2009 revision of the Farm Bill established the new Office of Ecosystem Services and Markets (OESM). The Office was formally created in December 2008 with Ms. Collins appointed as the Acting Director. During the transition between administrations, hundreds of visitors discussed the potential role of OESM. Read more>>

Exchanging Places: Lochsa for Park Place

Spatial Interest — 2009-06-04T18:32:44-07:00

No. 6, June 4
Federal land ownership decisions have left a pattern of economic history in the Western United States. In the 1860's, Congress passed the Pacific Railroad Act, providing land grants to railroad companies. The land grants were offered as incentives, and allowed the sale of land and timber by the new owners in order to finance railroad construction. Historians estimate that over 45 million acres were exchanged to industry in return for the public benefit of a transcontinental railroad. The land exchange contributed to western expansion and economic development. Read more>>

A Cascade of Energy

Spatial Interest — 2009-04-22T18:42:22-07:00

No. 5, April 22
The power station at Cascade used the Payette River's force to generate energy for local consumption (photo inset) . The station produced power from this renewable source, without relying on external suppliers. Energy independence drove the cents that enabled a forest products industry to produce lumber for decades. Hallack and Howard Lumber Company operated a sawmill in Cascade until they sold to Boise Cascade in 1960. Forest products continued as an economic mainstay until the mill closed in 2001, part of the Boise Cascade transition to an office products company. The mill closure impacted the community, and residents have explored other economic development prospects, including recreation development. Read more>>

Sequestered in the Forest

Spatial Interest — 2009-03-16T18:47:19-07:00

No 4, Mar. 16
In 1900, McCall was sequestered in the forest, a common geography for many of the resource based communities in the Western U.S. Economics linked the remote location to the external world through the products made from the materials of the area. Mills produced lumber and railroad ties that literally supported local mines and the transport of farm goods to larger cities. The railroads returned the favor by bringing tourists to sequester themselves near the solitude and beauty of mountain lakes. Read more>>

Cache In or Cash Out

Spatial Interest — 2009-02-23T18:49:06-08:00

No 3, Feb. 23
Ecosystem service markets offer private landowners a potential source of additional. Recalling that Ricardian Space (Vol. 2, Num. 2) refers to the indestructible characteristics of soil and the land, managing ecosystem services recognizes that other landscape features form a dynamic pattern. The features respond to environmental and cultural agents of change. Two examples of features are vegetation and stream channels. The patterns on the landscape are not only pleasing to the eye, but they provide a renewable cache for wildlife habitat, clean air and water. Because the services derived from these resources have public benefit not typically priced in markets, they compete with cash for land uses that are directly priced. Read more>>

A Mission to Ricardian Space

Spatial Interest — 2009-02-11T18:50:33-08:00

No 2, Feb. 11
David Ricardo would make a competent advisor to the newly formed USDA Office of Ecosystem Services and Markets (OESM). Overlooking the one detail that Ricardo was a nineteenth century economist, his pertinent studies included the economics of land and the concept of land rent. Read more>>

Hedges on the Edges

Spatial Interest — 2009-01-15T18:52:16-08:00

No. 1, Jan. 15
Private working forests have escaped the attention of the financial crisis news coverage during 2008. But trace the supply chain, and the housing starts lead to the forest with intervening links of retail and wholesale commerce along the way. The flow of dimension lumber from source to destination varies with housing demand, which in turn responds to capacity of credit markets. A robust housing market in the first half of the decade attracted new investors to private forests, seeking a hedge in capital markets, as well as refuge from the Internet bubble. Read more>>

The Amenity Economy

Spatial Interest — 2008-11-08T19:12:04-08:00

No. 02, Nov. 3

The Western Larch changed colors in time to brighten the drive for travelers headed to the 3rd Real Estate and D evelopment in the Rockies Conference. Missoula residents know the needles will fall off these trees, and then return next spring in a lighter shade of green. Realtors and developers attending the conference have watched the Amenity Economy of the Rockies change colors in 2008, and fall dramatically with the national housing bubble and the credit crisis. Read more>>

Counting Sheep Before They Sleep

Spatial Interest — 2008-10-20T19:14:29-07:00

No. 1, Oct.20

The Payette National Forest staff may have trouble sleeping, but that's not the reason they are counting sheep. The Chief of the Forest Service reversed the Regional Forester's approval of the 2003 Land and Resource Management Plan, and directed the Regional Forester to analyze the viability of bighorn sheep on the Payette National Forest. Read more>>