The Emerging Commodity of Restored Streams: Science, Policy, and Econmics in New Markets for Ecosystem Service Commodities

河流恢复的科学和技术已经成熟，同时以市场为基础的环境保护战略，这两种方法结合在新兴的河流缓解银行业。 河流减缓银行允许开发商通过购买营利性公司生产的恢复“信用”来抵消河流的影响，这实际上是在河流生态系统中创造了一个市场。 确保受影响和恢复的河流的质量和数量，这是市场和监管所要求的，是一项测量任务，吸引了科学家进入新兴的生态系统市场。 更一般地说，河流减缓是生态系统市场处于起步阶段的一种表现，如碳交易。 该研究项目将通过充分利用定量和定性混合方法，研究科学，政策和市场在河流缓解银行网站的应用。 调查人员将结合联合收割机现场和水文地貌过程的建模研究;与科学家，监管机构和企业家的访谈;以及历史和档案研究，以充分记录和理解河流缓解银行的做法。 他们的最终目标是了解政策，科学和市场如何相互作用，在景观中留下独特的印记。 该研究将借鉴地理学和地球科学及社会科学相关领域的各种分支的复杂理论和方法，为重要的环境政策问题提供信息。该项目将阐明利用市场进行环境管理的新范式。 从这个项目中得出的理论将可扩展和转移（适当修改）到其他地区和其他现象的新兴环境市场，如碳交易，水质交易和濒危物种栖息地保护银行。 由于流缓解银行业是相对年轻的，这个项目也可以告知实际的政策和过程。 除了使直接参与该项目的研究人员和学生受益外，它还将有助于通过联合大学短期课程计划建立不断增长的跨学科学者社区。

The science and technology of stream restoration has matured alongside market-based strategies for environmental protection, and the two approaches are combined in the emerging stream mitigation banking industry. Stream mitigation banking allows developers to offset stream impacts by purchasing restoration "credits" produced by for-profit companies, essentially creating a market in stream ecosystems. Assuring the quality and quantity of impacted and restored streams, which is required by both market and regulation, is a task of measurement that has drawn scientists into emerging ecosystem markets. More generally, stream mitigation is a manifestation of ecosystem markets in their infancy, such as carbon trading. This research project will examine the application of science, policy, and markets at stream mitigation bank sites by fully leveraging mixed quantitative and qualitative methods. The investigators will combine field and modeling studies of hydrogeomorphic processes; interviews with scientists, regulators, and entrepreneurs; and historical and archival research to fully document and understand the practice of stream mitigation banking. Their ultimate goal is to understand how policy, science, and markets interact to leave a distinct imprint on the landscape. This research will draw on sophisticated theory and methods in very divergent branches of geography and related fields in the geosciences and social sciences to inform a vital environmental policy issue.This project will shed light on the new paradigm of using markets for environmental management. Theory derived from this project will be scalable and transferable (with appropriate modification) to emerging environmental markets in other locales and other phenomena, such as carbon trading, water quality trading, and endangered species habitat conservation banks. Because the stream mitigation banking industry is relatively young, this project also can inform practical policy and processes. In addition to benefitting researchers and students directly involved in this project, it will help to build the growing community of interdisciplinary scholars through a joint university short-course program.