Ecosystem Services: Landscapes and Biodiversity
Draft Goals and Indicators
Sustainability Goals (Outcomes we wish to see in NJ):
New Jersey’s mosaic of natural, agricultural, and developed landscapes:
1) supports their full complement of biodiversity and
2) provides essential ecosystem services.
In this context, the term ‘landscape’ refers to terrestrial, aquatic or marine environments and the
natural resources they contain. ‘Natural’ landscapes are those that remain largely unaltered by human
activity, or have been restored to such condition. Managed forests and tree farms are here included
under the mantle of agriculture, as interrelated elements of ‘working landscapes.’ Indicators specific to
agriculture are to be found listed under that dimension/outcome. Forestry and fisheries are included
here.
The ‘complement of biodiversity’ refers to native species and ecological communities (habitats) plus
valued species that occur locally due to human management or that may migrate into the state in
response to climate change. Ecosystem services embrace “all contributions of ecosystems to human
wellbeing.” They include material outputs (e.g., food, water, timber), regulating services (e.g., flood
control, carbon storage, soil fertility), maintenance of genetic diversity, and upholding of cultural and
quality-of-life values (aesthetics, recreation, spiritual solace) (TEEB 2010). Moreover, the species with
which we share our state (and planet) have an intrinsic value that is not reducible to their service to
humans. TEEB (2010), The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity Ecological and Economic Foundations. Edited by
Pushpam Kumar. Earthscan, London and Washington.
Secondary objectives, addressing crosscutting principles:
3) At any given time, a sufficient area of land, coast, and sea is maintained in a configuration and
management status adequate to provide permanent, seasonal or transient habitat for New
Jersey’s species to survive in place, migrate, and, over the long term, to evolve.
This addresses crosscutting climate mitigation (carbon storage) and adaptation [resilience] objectives.
4) All NJ residents benefit from the ecosystem services provided across the natural, working and
developed landscapes of the state. In addition to the essentials of clean air and water (see
Outcomes x & y), these services include the provision of recreational opportunities and qualityof-life values. Thus,
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All NJ residents enjoy a flourishing municipal tree canopy and all enjoy proximity and access
to green spaces (i.e., primarily vegetated public or private open space).
This addresses crosscutting equity objective.
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POTENTIAL INDICATORS
Primary goals:
1.0 Species diversity

Population trends of selected key, representative species
o
Target = ?? For discussion: the ranges of some species will shift due to climate change –
some will go locally extinct and new species will arrive. (Source: NJDEP: Natural Heritage
Program and Endangered and Nongame Species Program.)
2.0 Ecosystem services: watershed integrity
Healthy watersheds produce the regulated flows of clean water is essential to both human and nonhuman species. The indicators for Water Quality and Supply [Outcome x] capture withdrawals for
human needs; biological indicators of adequate flows of clean water left behind in the ecosystem are
captured here. Increase in impervious cover is a proxy for development impact via loss of forest,
wetland, and farm, and at the same time a measure of watershed integrity.

*% of sites in Ambient Biomonitoring Network (AMNET) per Watershed Management Area for
which health of in-stream benthic macroinvertebrates is rated ‘good’ or ‘excellent.’ (Source:
NJDEP) Cross-links with Water outcomes.

number and % of watersheds (HUC 14) that are significantly impaired, i.e. >= 30% impervious
surface. (Source: Hasse and Lathrop 2010 and subsequent.) , or:
 % impervious surface cover statewide, or
 per watershed (HUC 11 [or WMA]), total, mean, and trend. Cross-links with Water and
Built Environment outcomes.
The healthy functioning of related ecosystem services other than water provision and regulation
depends on land management practices (reflected in indicators for goal 2), and also is reflected in other
sustainability outcomes (e.g., agriculture, health, air quality).
Secondary objectives, addressing crosscutting principles:
2.0 Extent, configuration and management status of ecosystems
2.1 Measure of extent and (indirect) management status (also climate mitigation indicator):
 trend in live tree biomass (carbon storage; indirect measure of forest extent, productivity and
health)1 &/OR
 acreage, %, and trend of forest area and wetland total area2
1
USDA Forest Service RPA Tables 38a & 38b (2007 & 2012) [I have these].
2
NJDEP’s Land Use/Land Cover digital datasets have been released every five years, followed by published
analytical reports (Hasse and Lathrop 2001, 2001, 2010). The reports track changes in land cover in broad classes:
urban/developed, forest, agriculture, wetland and barren.
2

Percent of total catch in NJ Exclusive Economic Zone that is comprised of fish species listed as
overexploited or collapsed
2.2 Measure of configuration:
 Core habitat (defined as contiguous area minus 100 m edge) as %, and trend, of forest area
(Hasse and Lathrop (2010) report this indicator for forest only (expansion to other ecosystems
highly desirable). It reflects the shape and layout of managed areas, and thus serves as an indirect
measure of habitat connectivity and its converse, fragmentation. Minimum habitat size and
migration corridors are essential for climate adaptation.
Note that these indicators do not directly track the quality of the habitat. Adaptation to the pressures of
climate change and other disruptions (invasive species, fragmentation) requires active, adaptive
management. The outcomes of management practices will eventually be reflected in the primary
indicators (1.0). These secondary indicators of landscape features are of value in themselves, because
they are timely, predictive, and provide for climate resilience as well as human access and appreciation.
3.0 Equity: access to natural areas and quality of the urban and community ‘forest’
Equity of benefit from the essential ecosystem services that provide clean water and clean air and
maintain human health will be tracked by the indicators specified under those sustainability outcomes [x
y & z]. Trees, open space, and other elements of the green infrastructure woven into the landscape of
towns and cities provide water, air, related health services, as well as recreational, aesthetic, and other
non-material benefits essential to individual and community well-being. Unequal access to these
benefits is thus an important indicator of social inequity.

Open space as an average and lowest % of municipal land area [population weighted]; trend
(NJDEP Recreational and Open Space inventory3
http://www.state.nj.us/dep/greenacres/openspace.html)

Urban tree canopy cover as % of urban land [population weighted] statewide, average and
lowest per municipality; trend. (Source: USDA Forest Inventory Analysis).4 Tree cover in
municipalities5 with different median income levels and different demographics can be
compared to a national or regional benchmark or target and/or to each other to give an
indication of disparities associated with urban residence/density, class, and race or ethnicity.
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3
This database includes municipal, county and nonprofit parkland encumbered by the Green Acres Program only.
It does not include state land. Public access to these lands varies and not all are vegetated.
4
Urban and community forests of the Mid-Atlantic region: New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Nowak, David J.;
Greenfield, Eric J. 2009. Gen. Tech. Rep. NRS-47. Newtown Square, PA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest
Service, Northern Research Station. http://www.nrs.fs.fed.us/pubs/9740
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Unequal access to urban trees and associated benefits would be better assessed at the neighborhood level, and
the strength of the relationship across the state could be tested. (Analysis could be done using i-Tree, www.iTreetools.org, a USFS tool, but the accuracy may not be adequate).
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Alternative potential indicators:

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*Number, and trend in number, of threatened and endangered species (net of species that have
been delisted due to recovery) per major grouping (mammals, plants, etc.).
Management status (2.3): protected* natural area as % of state, and as % of each major
ecosystem type from baseline year (NJDEP New Jersey Natural Heritage Program). (‘Protected’ is
defined as legally protected from development or commercial harvest, including parks, land
under conservation easements, and the like (IUCN classifications I-V)).
Target: = ?% terrestrial and 1% of coast and marine EEZ. (NJDEP New Jersey Natural
Heritage Program for terrestrial data; as of yet there is no network or program for
marine protected areas in NJ)
2.1 [potential future indicators (currently a knowledge gap):
o acreage, %, and trend of area per major habitat types (Level II or III) and trend (rate of
loss or conversion)]6
o acreage, % and trend change in threatened and endangered wildlife habitat values7]
adaptive management: acreage, %, trend of natural areas, managed forests, and [[urban and]
community forest and open space ] with evidence of ongoing monitoring and pro-active
intervention in anticipation of climate and other environmental change: e.g., species migration
corridors and assistance, controlling invasives, controlled burning to reduce fuel loads, slowing
coastal erosion). [These data are not currently collected].
acreage, %, trend of managed forest [, plantation, and [urban and] community] acres certified
under various programs, e.g., by DEP under NJ Forestry Stewardship Bill, Forest Stewardship
Council, American Tree Farm system, Tree City USA, NJ Community Forestry Assistance Act, or
equivalent. [Note that these certification programs have different purposes and degrees of rigor
– should be screened.]
for private forest land: participation in state and fed. cost-share and incentive programs*
number/% of communities with an approved community forest management plan by NJDEP in
place and active
number/% of communities with active Shade Tree Commission
forest health (regeneration, stand structure, pests, fire)
net wetland area and trend (WMQA for mitigated wetlands)
loss of endangered and threatened species habitat (rank 3, 4, or 5) per year and trend
Plant stewardship index (being developed by Bowman’s Hill)
#spp. on Invasive Species Strike Force watch list; (better, if only data were available): area
occupied by invasives, as a % of state, or by watershed
deer per acre in forested areas, deer browse index
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% unarmored shoreline
nutrient loads/eutrophication/algal blooms in near-shore waters, particularly bays
% shellfish habitat open for harvesting as indicator of marine water quality
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While the GIS data are available (deathstar.rutgers.edu), and more specific land use and habitat change studies
cover some time periods (Lathrop 2000) and regions (Highlands, Pinelands, Barnegat Bay), there is no
comprehensive, periodically updated data source for this indicator at present. It should be a priority.
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Nile and Lathrop white paper (2014). If funded and institutionalized, this would prove a powerful outcome-based
indicator of the net impact of development, climate change, and other stressors.
4
Explore EPA’s EnviroAtlas; Natureserve
*Federal Forest
Incentive programs:
Forest Stewardship Program
Environmental Quality Incentives Program
Forest Land Enhancement Program
Forest Legacy Program
Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program
Wetlands Reserve Program
Private: NJ Tree Farm Program
Statewide forest trust: NJ Conservation Foundation
Key/indicator Spp listed on DEP Environmental Trends:
Wildlife Populations: American Shad
Wildlife Populations: Bald Eagle
Wildlife Populations: Canada Goose
Wildlife Populations: Colonial-nesting Waterbirds
Wildlife Populations: Horseshoe Crab
Wildlife Populations: Marine Fisheries
Wildlife Populations: Ospreys
Wildlife Populations: Passerines (Perching birds)
Wildlife Populations: Peregrine Falcon
Wildlife Populations: Red Knot
Wildlife Populations: White-tailed Deer
Wildlife Populations: Wood Duck
October 2011
May 2011
October 2011
August 2012
January 2012
September
2014
August 2012
March 2010
September
2007
July 2012
October 2011
May 2011
Endangered plants: & by category: extant, historic and extirpated populations from Natural Heritage
At the time of this writing (December 2012), 817 rare plant species were tracked in the Natural Heritage
Database, or 39% of the state’s flora. The Endangered Plant Species List (List), which was last amended in
1999, categorized 339 of these vascular and non-vascular plants, or 16%, as state endangered.
Following adoption of List amendments, the updated List will codify 356 plant species, or 17% of the state’s
flora, as state endangered. An additional 37 endangered plants will be added to the List, while 20 plant
species will be removed.
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