
Paying people to preserve forests seems to work - jseliger
https://arstechnica.com/science/2017/07/paying-people-to-preserve-forests-really-seems-to-work/
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CWuestefeld
NY State has a program called "480-A" that gives landowners a tax break for
exercising proper stewardship of forest resources. To qualify you need not
only to have the trees, but also document periodic maintenance like "TSI"
(Timber Stand Improvement, where you're supposed to thin out some of the
younger trees to give the remainder more space to grow), and harvesting of the
large mature trees.

The thing about this program is that there's so much bureaucratic nonsense
around it, with all kinds of reporting requirements and such, and that if
you're not compliant they'll retroactively claw back 10 years worth of
benefits if you mess up.

I've got 76 forested acres upstate that was enrolled in this program when I
bought it. Despite the tax advantages I pulled the land out of the program as
soon as I could. Between the hassle of the red tape, and the fear of the
financial repercussions, I didn't want the risk. I still do the stuff they
want you to do - it only makes sense, as it provides an income from harvesting
the lumber - but my motivation is nothing to do with their program itself.

My point is that when government sets its bureaucracy on what might otherwise
be a good idea, they can taint the benefit that it was supposed to carry,
making it ineffective.

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fludlight
> My point is that when government sets its bureaucracy on what might
> otherwise be a good idea, they can taint the benefit that it was supposed to
> carry, making it ineffective.

Not always. Section 1603 of the 2008 ARRA created a program whereby the
Treasury would cut you a check (not a tax credit) for 30% of the cost of any
commercial renewable energy installation. There was minimal red tape. You
basically had to provide a subset of the documents you as when you financed
it. This significantly sped up solar and wind adoption in the US.

Edit: The Treasury would send said check within 30 days of you proving that
the system was operational.

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WalterBright
Another way to look at it is consider trees as "income producing assets", and
the government pays so much per live tree per year.

Since the benefit of trees is a collective one, it makes sense for the
government to tax people to pay the tree owners.

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sliverstorm
It's rather abstract, but in many ways perhaps similar to paying a
groundskeeper to take care of the landscaping, or a contractor to maintain a
road. Especially if "strings" are later added to the payments, for example if
your payment is modulated by an evaluation of the health of your forest.

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Overtonwindow
My great aunt received a check from the government for most of her life for
growing trees on her land, and agreeing not to cut them down without
permission.

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waffle_ss
I grew up on a dairy farm. We had a small creek running through some of the
fields and I seem to remember my dad getting a check from the gov't for
maintaining a buffer area (not planting crops) around the waterway - I'm
guessing it was the "Farmable Wetlands Program" listed here:
[https://www.fsa.usda.gov/programs-and-
services/conservation-...](https://www.fsa.usda.gov/programs-and-
services/conservation-programs/)

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jogjayr
Does anyone know of any non-profits that use this approach, along with
satellite/boots-on-the-ground verification? It seems like a perfectly logical
way to curb deforestation. Having more trees is almost always objectively
better, so we should be ready to pay for them. The best way to do it is to
provide incentives for keeping them up, or planting more, that are better than
the gains from cutting them down.

~~~
smlacy
In the U.S. the term you're looking for is 'Conservation Easement' which is
how private landowners can get a tax break for preserving forested lands.

I'm guessing that there will be more pressure to have similar programs in
developing nations.

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nowarninglabel
Sort of. I sought a conservation easement but it wouldn't actually provide
much. Out of about 150 acres, of which probably about 30-40 is lightly
forested with Oaks/Pines, the tax break would only be a few thousand dollars
and only one time deal. It works off of the assessed value of the land which
for raw land with no housing on it is usually quite low and thus the easement
tax break is low.

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hkmurakami
Frankly this is how I think we need to combat Amazon deforestation.

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valuearb
It's futile, Bezos will never agree to stop making those boxes out of
cardboard.

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adrianN
I'm reasonably sure that cardboard is not made from rainforest trees.

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prodmerc
Well, d'uh. Pay me a livable wage and I'll do rounds around a forest and shoot
any trespassers. It's already in my blood :D

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texxi
That sounds like a call to arms - A RAN field investigation has just unearthed
new evidence of fresh bulldozing through critical elephant habitat in
Indonesia’s Leuser Ecosystem. The links are crystal clear, from destroyed
elephant habitat to mills supplying the world’s biggest palm oil supplier
Wilmar, which sells its palm oil to the world’s biggest brands.

~~~
iRobbery
I think he/she is simply referring to 'paying people to do something you want'
principle. Which has worked since money exists i guess. Therefor not so
surprising this would work as reported.

