Markets for ecosystem services are increasingly recognized as
having an important role to play in ecosystem protection. Combining
or "bundling" of ecosystem services may also provide a more administratively
efficient process for integrating different ecosystem services
(water, wetlands and endangered species for example) that
are managed by different regulatory agencies (Chan et aI., 2006;
LaRocco and Deal, 2011). However, reducing transaction costs and
streamlining the regulatory and policy constraints of these emerging
markets is critical to develop functioning markets for these services
(Chan et al.. 2006; Kline et aI., 2009). These new financial incentives
expand opportunities for forest landowners to gain revenue from
their lands while also providing public goods to society. The objectives
of this paper include: 1) describe the policy and regulatory
frameworks of emerging markets for ecosystem services in the u.s.
and assess the role of market incentives for maintaining these services,
2) evaluate the potential benefits of bundling ecosystem services
and/or stacking credits as an incentive to keep forestlands in
forests, 3) describe a case study in Oregon using an accounting protocol
to integrate different services into a multi-ecosystem service marketplace.
Lastly, we will evaluate some of the opportunities and
challenges related to bundling of ecosystem services and their potential
to enhance sustainable 'forest management and help maintain a
broad suite of ecosystem benefits