Valuing Native Vegetation Restoration on Oil & Gas Rights-of-Way With more than 500,000 miles of oil & gas rights-of-way (ROWs) in Texas alone, understanding the total value of native vegetation restoration provides both natural resource and industry opportunity. To date, limited data has been available to evaluate the difference in restoring disturbed lands to native states versus the traditional use of non-native seeds. Understanding the full scope of this difference including broad ecosystem impacts as well as social benefits could create a positive business case for native vegetation restoration by industry.
This valuation project aimed to:
Quantify and monetize
carbon sequestration, water quality, water quantity, and biodiversity benefits of native rangeland vegetation within the Eagle Ford Shale play.
Evaluate the return on investment and social return on investment (SROI) for native vegetation restoration.
Recognize industry partners
as an advocate for native vegetation restoration and a catalyst for expansion of native habitat beyond the ROWs into rural working lands.
PROJECT SUMMARY Texan by Nature partnered with Texas A&M Natural Resources Institute (NRI), Texas A&M University Department of Rangeland, Wildlife, and Fisheries Management, and EcoMetrics, LLC, on a project funded by EOG Resources Inc. (EOG) to quantify the environmental and economic return of native rangeland restoration in the Eagle Ford Shale play. The two-year project monitored soil health, carbon sequestration, and biodiversity at four study sites (a native-restored grassland, a non-native-restored grassland, a native-restored well pad, and an unrestored well pad) within LaSalle County. These field measurements were then paired with literature values to quantify the SROI uplift provided by native over non-native restoration.