Management of Forests and Public Lands Through the Lens of Ecosystem Services

Natural resource policy and management in the United States often are characterized by limited budgets and multiple, and sometimes competing, societal objectives. The use and management of forest lands in the U.S. involve tradeoffs between the current and potential benefits public and private lands provide to society and the effects the policy and management actions have on the resiliency of natural systems. However, translating society's multiple forestry objectives into policies and management actions has become more difficult as society's objectives have become more complex. This book characterizes the concept of ecosystem services as it could apply to national forests; describes the value of an ecosystem service approach and provides examples of how management actions support the provision of these services; compares the Deschutes National Forest's current accomplishment reporting system to ecosystem service outcomes that potentially result from management activities; identifies partners with potential to collaboratively plan, fund, or implement projects to enhance or conserve ecosystem services; describes current research efforts to support management application of the ecosystem service concept; and identifies research needs.