Message from the Executive Director / By Lou Etgen. Article can also be found directly from the Chesapeake Bay Journal here.

LandServer provides farmers and woodland owners with a quick and easy natural resource assessment report; an evaluation of their property's potential to receive payments for implementing conservation actions; and information on how to get started.

In the Chesapeake, users will have access to Bay Bank, where credits can be generated and listed for potential buyers. State and local governments and conservation organizations will also benefit through LandServer's ability to educate, update new GIS data easily and provide helpful contact information.

The tool was developed through a partnership of the Pinchot Institute for Conservation; Sustainable Solutions, LLC; and Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay. LandServer was originally conceived through the Forestry for the Bay Program as an assessment and management tool for small landowners. It has developed into much more.

As landowners, producers, conservation organizations, and state and local governments in the mid-Atlantic region move forward in their participation with ecosystem markets and conservation programs, LandServer is the key online assessment tool that will aid them in the process.

Landowners are able to:

• quickly and easily generate a natural resources assessment report for their property;
• easily evaluate their potential to enroll in valuable state and federal cost-share programs;
• evaluate the potential to receive payments for implementing land practices that enhance ecosystem services; and
• save time by using Bay Bank to generate ecosystem service credits and list credits online for buyers.

LandServer also allows nonprofit, government and corporate organizations to better target their objectives by finding landowners and operators willing to implement conservation actions.

LandServer serves as an educational resource that raises the awareness of natural systems in providing valuable ecosystem services.

The LandServer database can be loaded with any state or local priority area GIS data that can then be included in the report to the user. This GIS data can include special resource areas, priority funding areas, wildlife action plan data, zoning, rural legacy and cost-share programs.

State and local governments with in-lieu fee responsibilities will have access to landowners interested in implementing practices through the Bay Bank marketplace.

To view the tool or to create a report, visit www.LandServer.org.

LandServer is being piloted in Maryland and Delaware and will be expanded to New York, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Virginia in late 2010. LandServer can also be expanded into other areas nationwide.

For information, please contact Eric Sprague at esprague@pinchot.org.