Environmental Banc & Exchange

In the News

EBX Partners with Emerging New Conservation Investor

September 8, 2006: EBX will be joining the Sustainable Land Fund partner network to provide mitigation services in select markets. The recently launched Sustainable Land Fund (SLF) is acquiring landscape scale properties containing critical environmental features that have significant financial value gained through restoration and sustainable land use practices, such as wetland and stream mitigation banking.

As expressed by Randy Wilgis, EBX Director of Business Development, “this relationship is a win-win for both companies. The SLF enables us to more efficiently and effectively meet the mitigation needs of large scale clients such as transportation authorities and pipeline providers within a watershed plan context. Our partnership with the SLF enables EBX to provide mitigation solutions in conjunction with large tract conservation, which is often a component of the watershed protection desires of the state resource agencies”.

The SLF will make use of new market mechanisms and incentive programs that assign value to conservation and the restoration of ecosystems. According to Nick Dilks, Partner at the SLF, “we are creating the first fund to bring large-scale, long-term, private capital to conservation and ecosystem restoration. With the help of partners like EBX, we have the ability to make significant conservation impacts on the land through private action”.

SLF properties will capitalize on select components of value: wetland & stream mitigation banking, conservation (endangered species) banking, conservation finance (e.g. conservation easements), sustainable (certified) timber and agriculture, water quality and in-stream flow transactions, recreation (hunting, fishing, eco-tourism, transfer of development rights (TDR), carbon sequestration, and limited development.

SLF will work with various organizations and businesses to execute the value components, including the Nature Conservancy, the Conservation Fund, Trust for Public Land and others. The Fund does not have an exclusive relationship with any of its current partners, and intends to expand its partner network.

The Sustainable Land Fund will provide returns to investors by utilizing the full range of market mechanisms and incentive programs now available to private landowners, along with limited commercial uses that do not conflict with high conservation goals. The objective is to provide meaningful returns to private and institutional investors while providing significant conservation results. For more information, visit www.slfusa.com.