Developing a Market for Nesting Bird Habitat on Active Farm Hayfields

Establishing community-based markets for wildlife Habitat protection and other ecological services is a promising innovation, particularly at the urban-rural fringe where residents in or near rural communities value the quality of life provided by sustaining a farmed landscape that supports wildlife. Non-farm residents are also often willing to pay to sustain the rural character of their communities. This purpose of this project is to develop a market in which community residents pay farmers to adopt farming practices that enhance wildlife Habitat services from fields currently in production. Specifically, this project will create a market around grassland nesting birds, targeting bobolinks and hay production on Conanicut Island in Newport County, Rhode Island. This coastal landscape is threatened by increasing residential and tourism development. Bobolink nesting Habitat is endangered by hayfield cutting. The project will develop a new product that farmers can sell from hayfields to consumers willing to pay to improve nesting success of birds.