New West Network

My Page: John Andrulis

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In Montana's Blackfoot valley, a new approach to restoring streams and wetlands is gaining ground. It's been dubbed "for-profit" or "incentive-based" conservation. The program, overseen by the Army Corps or Engineers, is called "mitigation banking."

Using red, white and blue capitalistic drive as incentive, the public-private partnership to restore habitat is catching on quickly in Western states. But whether it is the golden egg for stalled, cash-strapped conservation measures, still remains to be seen. [more]