Analyzing the provision of ecosystem services by conservation easements and other protected and non-protected areas in the Upper Chattahoochee Watershed

Abstract

A conservation easement (CE) legally places a permanent restriction on the development of a private land parcel, and in turn, can provide tax benefits to the landowner. We used the modular toolset InVEST (Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs) to quantify provision of five ecosystem services (ESs) (carbon storage, wildlife habitat quality, nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment exports) provided by CEs and other land typologies (Simulated Parcels, 1 km Buffer area, Watershed Average, Federal, State and Local Protected Areas) within the Upper Chattahoochee Watershed (UCW), which provides 72% of drinking water to about six million residents of the Atlanta Metropolitan Area and is experiencing one of fastest urban growth of the United States. Simulated Parcels would represent the land cover of CEs if the development restrictions were not in place. We conducted the analysis for 2001, 2006, 2011 and 2016. We aggregated all ESs into one index. Overall, CEs provided higher levels of ESs relative to the Simulated Parcels, 1 km Buffer, Watershed Average, and Local Protected Areas. However, the ESs from CEs were lower relative to Federal and State Protected Areas. Our results suggest that CEs are effective in ensuring the continuance of ESs within the UCW.