Project Summary

Project Background

In June 2007, Ecosystem Investment Partners (EIP) acquired 1,037 acres within the acquisition boundary of the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge in southeastern Virginia. Known as the "Dover Farm", the property has long been one of the US Fish & Wildlife Service’s (FWS) top priorities for conservation in Virginia due to:

• Its significance as the largest remaining, unprotected in-holding in the Great Dismal Swamp NWR
• The potential for significant ecological uplift through restoration of the property’s highly degraded wetlands and forests

For over a decade, the FWS has repeatedly attempted to acquire and conserve the property using traditional conservation means (primarily through federal and state conservation grants). These efforts have been thwarted by the lack of available traditional funding for conservation and restoration, as well as the ever escalating value of real estate in the greater Norfolk / Virginia Beach metro area. Recognizing the need for a private solution to the conservation and restoration needs of the property, EIP was asked to bring its capital, expertise and capacity to provide a solution.

Working with the FWS, The Nature Conservancy, State of Virginia and the US Army Corps of Engineers, EIP is utilizing the strong demand for ecosystem service credits found in southeastern Virginia (needed to offset unavoidable impacts to wetlands and a state endangered species) to pay for the conservation and restoration of the Dover Farm, as well as generate an attractive return for EIP’s investors. Credits are being generated through the establishment of a wetland and endangered species mitigation bank and the restoration of over 700 acres of the property’s original wetlands (currently in agricultural use).

Once all of the wetland and endangered species mitigation credits have been sold, the property will either be conveyed to the National Wildlife Refuge or sold to a private conservation buyer subject to permanent conservation easements. Revenues generated by the sale of mitigation credits will also allow EIP to establish a long-term monitoring and maintenance fund for the property to insure the quality and viability of its restored ecosystems.

The Dover Farm: A key inholding of the Great Dismal Swamp NWR.

Primary Components of Value

• Wetlands Mitigation Banking – EIP will establish a wetlands mitigation bank through the restoration and protection of approximately 700 acres of the property’s former wetlands which are now in agricultural use. The credits generated through the mitigation banking activities will be sold on the open market to entities identified by EIP as needing to offset their mitigation impacts. EIP will convey a perpetual conservation easement over the mitigation area to a qualified conservation organization (e.g. US Fish and Wildlife Service).
• Conservation Finance - The property is within the acquisition boundary of the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge and is one of the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s top priorities for acquisition. As such, the property is a high priority for permanent conservation via sale of fee simple to the Refuge.

The Dover Farm before restoration: Drainage ditches illustrate the way that water is
currently managed on site. Working with local experts in hydrology, conservation biology and
soil science, EIP develops and implements detailed restoration plans for each project.

Secondary Components of Value

• Sustainable Agriculture – During the time between property acquisition and commencing restoration of the wetlands, EIP will continue to lease the farm fields to a highly reputable farming operator.
• Recreational Leasing – The property possesses some of the most prime quail, waterfowl, deer and bear hunting in Virginia. The property is currently leased to the adjoining land-owner for recreational use, which EIP intends to continue.
• Carbon sequestration – Reforestation of the Property’s agricultural lands, and the preservation of existing woodland will generate CO2 benefits that can be sold to entities needing carbon offsets. Current assumptions are the property could sequester as much as 300 tons of CO2 per agricultural acre restored.

What will be: A healthy, complex ecosystem, home to many
important species, like the state-endangered canebrake rattlesnake.