PAYMENT FOR PRESENCE

Property and Environment Research Center (PERC) has teamed up with Grizzly Systems, a Montana-based tech innovator of "no grass" AI camera traps and software platform, to compensate ranchers for their conservation efforts.

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As part of PERC's on-going efforts to bring innovative conservation solutions to Paradise Valley, Montana, PERC and the Upper Yellowstone Watershed Group are working to pioneer market-based tools, such as Elk Occupancy Agreements and a Brucellosis Compensation Fund, to help ranchers who are providing winter range habitat for elk. One type of Elk Occupancy Agreement that is being implemented in the valley is a Payment for Presence program that use Grizzly System's smart AI game cameras to easily document the number of elk on a ranch. The information triggers a privately raised daily "elk rent" payment to the rancher when there is a herd of elk utilizing the ranch for habitat. Payment for Presence programs for conserving elk and other species offers an alternative for supporting habitat conservation while acknowledging (and at least partially compensating) the direct and indirect costs to ranchers.​