Pacific Northwest Research Station

Title: Evaluating tradeoffs among ecosystem services in the management of public lands

Author: Kline, Jeffrey D.; Mazzotta, Marisa J.

Date: 2012

Source: Gen. Tech. Rep. PNWGTR-865. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 48 p

Station ID: GTR-PNW-865

Description: The U.S. Forest Service has adopted the concept and language of ecosystem services to describe the beneficial outcomes of national forest management. We review the economic theory of ecosystem services as it applies to public lands management, and consider what it implies about the types of biophysical and other data that are needed for characterizing management outcomes as changes in ecosystem services. Our intent is to provide a guide to policymakers, managers, researchers, and others for evaluating and describing the tradeoffs involved in the management of public lands. Characterizing ecosystem services fundamentally is about explaining the benefits of national forests to the American public, with an emphasis on addressing their interests and concerns about how public lands are managed. Our hope is that this report will foster dialog about what people value about national forests and how public land management agencies might best go about securing those benefits.

Keywords: Ecosystem services, landscape analysis, public benefits, nonmarket values, national forest planning and management

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Citation

Kline, Jeffrey D.; Mazzotta, Marisa J.  2012.  Evaluating tradeoffs among ecosystem services in the management of public lands.   Gen. Tech. Rep. PNWGTR-865. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 48 p.