Conservation Banking

Conservation banks are permanently protected privately or publicly owned lands that are managed for endangered, threatened, and other at-risk species. A conservation bank is like a biological bank account. Instead of money, the bank owner has habitat or species credits to sell. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) approves habitat or species credits based on the natural resource values on the bank lands. In exchange for permanently protecting the bank lands and managing them for listed and other at-risk species, conservation bank owners may sell credits to developers or others who need to compensate for the environmental impacts of their projects.

I wonder if the same people that thought up pollution emissions trading were in on this idea. Is it just me, or does it seem a little wrong to pay someone else for habitat that you intend to destroy. Looky here for more details on the FWS program.