The Federal Resource Management and
Ecosystem Services Guidebook
Methods for Incorporating Ecosystem
Services into Planning and Decision-Making
ACES Workshop 2014
Federal Resource Management and Ecosystem Services Guidebook
nespguidebook.com
Time
Topic
Presenter
8:00-8:20
FRMES Introduction and Overview
Lydia Olander
8:20-8:50
Assessment Framework
Dean Urban
8:50-9:30
Deb Whitall
1:50-2:30
Stakeholder Engagement
Includes short exercise
BREAK
Means-Ends Diagrams
Includes exercise
LUNCH
Benefit Relevant Metrics Development
Includes exercise
Monetary Valuation
2:30-3:00
3:00-4:00
BREAK
Non-Monetary Valuation (MCDA)
4:00-4:30
Wrap-Up and Q&A
Includes survey of participants
9:30-10:00
10:00-11:30
11:30-1:00
1:00-1:50
ABOUT
Christy Ihlo
Lisa Wainger
Rob Johnston
Dean Urban
Lydia Olander
Federal Resource Management and Ecosystem Services Guidebook | nespguidebook.com
Workshop Leaders
ABOUT
Lydia Olander, PhD
Director Ecosystem Services Program
National Ecosystem Services Partnership
Nicholas Institute for Environmental
Policy Solutions
Duke University
Lisa Wainger, PhD
Research Professor
University of Maryland Center for
Environmental Science
Dean Urban, PhD
Professor of Landscape Ecology
Senior Associate Dean
Nicholas School of the Environment
Duke University
Rob Johnston, PhD
Professor of Economics
Department of Economics
Director and Research Professor
The George Perkins Marsh Institute
Clark University
Christy Ihlo, MEM
Research Assistant
Ecosystem Services Program
Nicholas Institute for Environmental
Policy Solutions
Duke University
Deb Whitall, PhD
Regional Social Scientist
Pacific Southwest Region
US Forest Service
Federal Resource Management and Ecosystem Services Guidebook | nespguidebook.com
The Federal Resource Management and
Ecosystem Services Guidebook
Lydia Olander, PhD
Director Ecosystem Services Program
National Ecosystem Services Partnership
Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions
Duke University
Federal Resource Management and Ecosystem Services Guidebook
nespguidebook.com
Why Create the Guidebook?
ABOUT
1998
PCAST report Teaming with Life: Investing in Science to Understand and Use America’s
Living Capital
2005
Millennium Ecosystem Assessment
2008
Farm Bill
Establishment of USDA Office of Ecosystem Services and Markets
Wetlands Compensatory Mitigation Rule
2010
Inter-agency dialogue on payments and markets for ecosystem services
2011
PCAST Report Sustaining Environmental Capital: Protecting Society and the Economy
2012
Forest Service Planning Rule
International Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services
2013
CEQ Principles and Requirements for Federal Investments in Water
Resources
Federal Resource Management and Ecosystem Services Guidebook | nespguidebook.com
What Does the Guidebook Include?
UNDERSTAND THE MOTIVATION for Ecosystem Services Approaches
History, definitions, benefits, limitations, FAQs
EXPLORE AGENCY USE of Ecosystem Services
Agency decision contexts and examples
THE ASSESSMENT FRAMEWORK for Ecosystem Services
Methods for connecting ecological and social analyses
ABOUT
Federal Resource Management and Ecosystem Services Guidebook | nespguidebook.com
Goals of the Project
 Help to fill the gap between concept and practice
 Educate newcomers & managers on the ground
 Shared learning across agencies
 Connect ecological and social methods for ES
evaluation
 Common framework that spans decision contexts and
geography
 Bring together agency and academic experts to bring
credibility while remaining practical
ABOUT
Federal Resource Management and Ecosystem Services Guidebook | nespguidebook.com
Over 150 People Participated
Project Leads
Agency Partners
Lydia Olander, Dean Urban, Tim Profeta (Duke University)
Lynn Scarlett (The Nature Conservancy)
Jim Boyd (Resources for the Future)
Sally Collins (Consultant, Formerly USFS and USDA OEM)
U.S. Forest Service
U.S. Bureau of Land Management
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
U.S. Geological Survey
U.S. Department of the Interior
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Funders
Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation
National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis
National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center
Duke University
USDA Office of Environmental Markets
Seed funding from several agencies
Universities & Consultants
Clark University
Colorado State University
Duke University
University of Maryland
Ohio University
University of Wisconsin
Vanderbilt University
The New School
Institute for Natural Resources
Parametrix
Spatial Informatics Group
ABOUT
Agency Observers
Council on Environmental Quality
Office of Science and Technology Policy
Office of Management and Budget
USDA Office of Environmental Markets
U.S. Department of State
NGOs
Compass
Defenders of Wildlife
Conservation Science Partners
NatureServe
Resources for the Future
The Nature Conservancy
United Nations Environment Programme
Federal Resource Management and Ecosystem Services Guidebook | nespguidebook.com
How Was the Guidebook Created?
Agencies
Managers
NGOs
Agency
examples
Community of
Practice
Advice,
review,
integration,
communication
Technical
Experts
ABOUT
NCEAS and
SESYNC
Technical
Working
Groups
Assessment
framework and
methods
review
Online
Guidebook
Data and
infrastructure
needs
Federal Resource Management and Ecosystem Services Guidebook | nespguidebook.com
UNDERSTAND THE MOTIVATION
FOR AN ECOSYSTEM SERVICES APPROACH
Federal Resource Management and Ecosystem Services Guidebook | nespguidebook.com
Common Categories
Millennium Ecosystem Assessment
Provisioning
Regulating
Cultural
Goods or products produced by
ecosystems
Natural processes regulated by
ecosystems
Non-material benefits obtained
from ecosystems
Supporting
Functions that maintain all other services
11
Source of slide: Businesses for Social Responsibility
MOTIVATION
Federal Resource Management and Ecosystem Services Guidebook | nespguidebook.com
11
An Ecosystem Services Approach
Katie Locklier, 2013
Tony Alter, Wikimedia Commons
USDA FS
Rob Haight, USFS N. Research Station
Katie Locklier, 2013
USDA, FS
MOTIVATION
Vera Kratovchil,
PublicDomainPictures.net
Federal Resource Management and Ecosystem Services Guidebook | nespguidebook.com
Potential Benefits
Alex Chuman
Analysis of who has access and benefits from changes in services can be
the basis for understanding distributional or equity implications
MOTIVATION
Federal Resource Management and Ecosystem Services Guidebook | nespguidebook.com
Frequently Asked Questions
Does this approach….
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Get used in all management decisions?  No
Replace assessments of traditional economic benefits?  No
Favor easy to quantify services?  No
Require monetization of all services?  No
Always change the outcome of a decision?  No
Replace existing agency priorities?  No
An ecosystem services approach complements existing
processes by providing additional information.
MOTIVATION
Federal Resource Management and Ecosystem Services Guidebook | nespguidebook.com
Potential Challenges
 Technical terminology may cause confusion
 Gaps in data and modeling for ecosystem services
could limit quantification
 Insufficient in-house technical capacity
 Managing greater engagement with a larger number
of stakeholders
 Concern that significant effort is required for
potentially small impact on decisions
MOTIVATION
Federal Resource Management and Ecosystem Services Guidebook | nespguidebook.com
EXPLORE AGENCY USE
HOW ARE AGENCIES THINKING ABOUT ECOSYSTEM SERVICES?
Federal Resource Management and Ecosystem Services Guidebook | nespguidebook.com
Agency Use
Agency Approaches
 National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration
 The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
 The U.S. Bureau of Land Management
 The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
 The U.S. Forest Service
Exploration of Legal Authority
 The National Environmental Policy Act
 The Federal Land Policy and
Management Act
AGENCIES
Johan Hogervorst
Federal Resource Management and Ecosystem Services Guidebook | nespguidebook.com
Agency Applications and Explorations
Agency
Example
BLM
BLM
Upper Green River Conservation Exchange Program
Protecting Ecosystem Services While Developing Renewable Energy
EPA
Ecosystem Services and NOx/SOx Secondary Standards
FWS
FWS
FWS
Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge
San Diego National Wildlife Refuge
Silvio O. Conte National Wildlife Refuge
NOAA
NOAA
Evaluating Ecosystem Services in Coastal and Marine Environments: Marine InVEST
An Ecosystem Services Framework for Conservation of Coastal Blue Carbon
USFS
USFS
USFS
USFS
USFS
Ecosystem Services Concepts and Inyo, Sierra, and Sequoia National Forests
The Cool Soda All Lands Restoration Proposal
Ecosystem Services and Management of Complex Landscape: The Marsh Project
Ecosystem Services and Land Management Plan Revision
Integrating Ecosystem Service into Forest Service Programs and Operations
AGENCIES
Federal Resource Management and Ecosystem Services Guidebook | nespguidebook.com
“Using an ecosystem services perspective is like moving from black
and white to full spectrum color in terms of the richness of the
analysis and the ability to communicate it to the public.”
John Allen, Deschutes National Forest Supervisor
Federal Resource Management and Ecosystem Services Guidebook
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