Forested Buffer for Environmental Credits Project

On September 22, 2007, PEC, with funding from Exelon Corp., led a partnership that installed a forested riparian buffer along a tributary to the Little Conestoga River in East Hempfield Township in Lancaster County. The buffer serves as a demonstration of how a corporate entity such as Exelon Corp. can fund a conservation project that yields measurable environmental credits that can be recognized by state and/or federal environmental credit registries and potentially be traded as marketable offset credits.  

Planning for the project began in the fall of 2006 with support from Exelon Corporation.  The project addresses multiple environmental issues including watershed protection in a nutrient impaired watershed that contributes to nutrient and sediment loading of the Susquehanna Basin and the Chesapeake Bay, carbon sequestration and aquatic and terrestrial habitat improvement.  PEC is working with Exelon, Lancaster General health system, Rettew Associates, Lancaster County Conservancy and the Little Conestoga Watershed Alliance.

The partnership of about 70 volunteers planted a diverse mix of native trees and shrubs to serve as a stream or riparian buffer 1,100 feet long and 120 feet wide adjacent to a field of soybeans on property owned by Lancaster General. The project builds on a riparian buffer previously planted by the Little Conestoga Watershed Alliance in the spring of 2007 located upstream of the project site on the west side of Route 741. These projects have multiple environmental benefits including improved water quality, air quality and aquatic and terrestrial habitat for fish and wildlife.

This buffer represents a groundbreaking way to fund watershed restoration projects to yield environmental credits. Specifically, the project will yield nutrient and sediment reduction credits in the nutrient-trading program for the Chesapeake Bay Watershed recognized by the state Department of Environmental Protection. In addition, the buffer will sequester approximately one metric ton per acre of carbon per year for the first 25 years after its installation. The World Resources Institute and Environmental Resources Trust will assist the partnership with the estimation of the nutrient and carbon credits, respectively.

PEC will receive the annual nutrient, sediment and carbon credits for 25 years through a contractual agreement with the property owner, Lancaster General. In turn, PEC will transfer title to those credits for the same period to Exelon Corp., which is paying the project costs. The forested buffer will also be placed under a conservation easement with the Lancaster County Conservancy for the 25-year term.