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

河流恢复的科学技术与基于市场的环境保护战略已经成熟，这两种方法在新兴的河流缓解银行业中得到了结合。河流缓解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，实质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是市场和监管都需要的，这是一项测量任务，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，例如碳交易。该研究项目将通过充分利用混合定量和定性方法，研究科学、政策和市场在河流缓解库地点的应用。研究人员将把水文地貌过程的实地研究和模型研究结合起来；对科学家、监管机构和企业家的采访；以及历史和档案研究，以充分记录和了解河流减缓银行的实践。他们的最终目标是了解政策、科学和市场如何相互作用，从而在环境中留下独特的印记。这项研究将利用地理以及地球科学和社会科学相关领域中非常不同的分支的复杂理论和方法，为重要的环境政策问题提供信息。这个项目将阐明利用市场进行环境管理的新范例。从这个项目中得出的理论将可扩展和转移（经过适当修改）到其他地方的新兴环境市场和其他现象，如碳交易、水质交易和濒危物种栖息地保护银行。由于减排银行行业相对较年轻，该项目还可以为实际政策和流程提供信息。除了使直接参与该项目的研究人员和学生受益外，它还将通过联合大学短期课程计划帮助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.