Building Flexibility Into Cultural Ecosystem Service Evaluation

Abstract

This article provides an overview of the process NOAA's Office of National Marine Sanctuaries implements to determine the status and trends of natural and cultural resources in addition to ecosystem services. More specifically, the process we use allows for flexibility and place-based adjustments to the evaluation of ecosystem services to incorporate multiple worldviews and perspectives, as needed, while still meeting the management objectives and needs of the national marine sanctuary. First, we present a case study of the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary condition report is presented first. Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary is home to four federally recognized Coastal Treaty Tribes, who have resided in the region since time memorial. After the initial workshop to evaluate the status and trends of ecosystem services, ONMS held a workshop to talk through and adapt processes based upon the feedback received by the four Coastal Treaty Tribes. The findings and results of the workshop are presented in this paper along with the specific action items ONMS adopted. The second case study is National Marine Sanctuary of American Samoa, which sought to incorporate the lessons learned and results of a sanctuary cultural ecosystem services workshop that involved various sanctuary sites the manage waters used by native and indigenous peoples.