City of South Burlington, Vermont
April 2020
Nature provides water, clean air, food, timber, and other vital ecosystem goods and services that support human well-being and sustain communities. Though their full value is not always reflected in market prices, ecosystem services are fundamental to a functioning economy. Knowing where to develop or invest—identifying cost-effective and resilient means of managing natural capital and protecting built infrastructure—requires the most complete economic information available. Recognizing the value of ecosystem services, the City of South Burlington has sought to account for the value nature provides. This study aims to assist decision-making in the City of South Burlington—regarding the City’s interim zoning bylaw—by accounting for the value of natural capital for twenty parcels identified as top priorities for conservation by the City’s Open Space Interim Zoning Committee (OSIZ) over the past year.
Using Earth Economics’ proprietary EVToolkitTM, this study conducted a benefit transfer analysis (BTM) of the land cover areas in open space interim zoning parcels. Through this ecosystem service valuation, Earth Economics found that the non-market value of ecosystem services provided by these priority parcels, amounts to between $5 to and $16 million in benefits per year. These benefits provide an annual flow of value and will do so well into the future, as such, Earth Economics estimates that the cumulative values over the next twenty years of ranges from $73 to $240 million. Given gaps in the analysis, there are additional ecosystem service values within and extending from ecosystems in the parcel areas that are not accounted for in this study.
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Prepared for The City of South Burlington, Vermont.
Suggested Citation: Molden, O., Fletcher, A., Cousins, K. Natural Capital Valuation of Interim Zoning Open Space Parcels for the City of South Burlington, Vermont. 2020. Earth Economics. Tacoma, WA.