Conservation Banking Analysis

At the request of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), the Department of the Interior's Office of Policy Analysis (PPA) conducted an analysis of the Service's conservation banking program to identify any institutional or other impediments to creating additional habitat conservation banks and develop potential options for encouraging the expanded use of conservation banking. Because of the nature and complexity of conservation banking, PPA developed a phased approach to analyzing the program and addressing a series of questions posed by the Service. The first steps in this analysis were a literature review and a survey of Service staff involved in endangered species issues. The second phase of the analysis focused on the role of conservation bankers, project proponents, and non-governmental organizations, and provides a broader perspective on issues affecting the conservation banking program. Reports on both surveys and the literature review are now available.