BiographyEric Sprague is helping the Pinchot Institute investigate opportunities for increasing sustainable management on private forestlands. His current projects include developing the Bay Bank, an online ecosystem service marketplace for private landowners, and the sustainable forestry revolving loan fund, a low-interest loan fund that promotes sustainable management and lessens the need for family land to be sold to pay back short- to mid-term debts. Eric received a Master of Science in Environmental Science and a Master of Public Affairs from Indiana University. Between 2000 and 2004, Eric served as the natural resource and farmland protection expert for the U.S. EPA's smart growth program. From 2004 to 2006, Eric managed The State of Chesapeake Forests project for The Conservation Fund. Synthesizing more than a decade's worth of data, the resulting report presents a comprehensive picture of the status of forestland in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.