Exploring the Use of Ecosystem Services Conceptual Models to Account for the Benefits of Public Lands: An Example from National Forest Planning in the United States

Lydia Olander,Zoe Ghali,Travis Warziniack,Katie Warnell,Chris Miller,Cathleen Neelan

doi:10.3390/f12030267

Lydia Olander, Zoe Ghali + Show 4 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/f12030267

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Abstract

A shared understanding of the benefits and tradeoffs to people from alternative land management strategies is critical to successful decision-making for managing public lands and fostering shared stewardship. This study describes an approach for identifying and monitoring the types of resource benefits and tradeoffs considered in National Forest planning in the United States under the 2012 Planning Rule and demonstrates the use of tools for conceptualizing the production of ecosystem services and benefits from alternative land management strategies. Efforts to apply these tools through workshops and engagement exercises provide opportunities to explore and highlight measures, indicators, and data sources for characterizing benefits and tradeoffs in collaborative environments involving interdisciplinary planning teams. Conceptual modeling tools are applied to a case study examining the social and economic benefits of recreation on the Ashley National Forest. The case study illustrates how these types of tools facilitate dialog for planning teams to discuss alternatives and key ecosystem service outcomes, create easy to interpret visuals that map details in plans, and provide a basis for selecting ecosystem service (socio-economic) metrics. These metrics can be used to enhance environmental impact analysis, and help satisfy the goals of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the 2012 Planning Rule, and shared stewardship initiatives. The systematic consideration of ecosystem services outcomes and metrics supported by this approach enhanced dialog between members of the Forest planning team, allowed for a more transparent process in identification of key linkages and outcomes, and identified impacts and outcomes that may not have been apparent to the sociologist who is lacking the resource specific expertise of these participants. As a result, the use of the Ecosystem Service Conceptual Model (ESCM) process may result in reduced time for internal reviews and greater comprehension of anticipated outcomes and impacts of proposed management in the plan revision Environmental Impact Statement amongst the planning team.

Highlights

Ecosystem services, broadly defined, are the benefits people receive from nature.Integration of ecosystem services into management gained global prevalence following the release of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) [1]
Service Research staff) and the Ashley planning team revealed a number of productive collaboration opportunities and challenges in considering ecosystem service benefits through the use of the Ecosystem Service Conceptual Model (ESCM) tool and methodology
National Forests in the United States continue to adapt to the new requirements under the 2012 Forest Service Planning Rule, but this has not yet resulted in a significant change in the way most forests have considered ecosystem services in management plan revision

Summary

Introduction

Broadly defined, are the benefits people receive from nature.Integration of ecosystem services into management gained global prevalence following the release of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) [1]. Challenges identified in the International Convention on Biological Diversity, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, and the Convention on Migratory Species. These conventions and the governments supporting them saw a need to better define ecosystem services and develop a scientific agenda to guide policy and management. Services (CICES) [2] and the Mapping and Assessment of Ecosystem Services (MAES) [3]. Both efforts standardized descriptions of ecosystem services aligned with the MA and aided more consistent monitoring of ecosystem services. A review of the EU policies shows moderate integration of the ecosystem services concept, in general, with strong integration in environmental and energy policies [4]

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