Ecosystem Services

Nature provides a vast array of goods and services for free to people — from clean water and air to places of recreation and spiritual significance — however, the value of these services is rarely taken into account in decision making process because no economic market exists for these benefits. The emerging framework of ecosystem services is an attempt to better understand and, if possible, quantify the flow of nature’s goods and services so that managers can better evaluate trade-offs when making complex decisions that affect the environment. Part of the this framework involves the development of “ecosystem market mechanisms” where landowners are financially compensated for keeping their lands healthy and functioning so that they will continue to deliver ecosystem services, such as the provision of fresh water to downstream users, the sequestration of atmospheric carbon dioxide, or pollination of agricultural crops. SIG helps clients in every stage of the process of implementing ecosystem service-based decision making, from initial scoping, to detailed analytics, to market mechanism development, to communication with stakeholders. SIG can help clients integrate ecosystem services and natural infrastructure values into their decision making process by offering the following services:

• Identifying topologies (assigning ecosystem service types) and establishing a common vocabulary
• Delineating study area boundaries, conducting literature reviews and synthesis, and identifying data gaps
• Convening meetings and workshops to establish key stakeholder priorities and issues

• Placing monetary worth on ecosystem services using primary valuation methods or value transfer
• Conducting dynamic spatial modeling of ecosystem service flows to beneficiaries (i.e., people)
• Detailing forest carbon storage capacity and defining accounting systems
• Developing GIS and remote sensing data to enhance quantification and spatial visualization of ecosystem services
• Performing scenario analysis of ecosystem service flows under alternative conditions

• Developing ecosystem service-based restoration and conservation plans
• Conducting analysis to prioritize restoration and conservation actions
• Supporting sustainable forestry, wildfire, and carbon offset planning to provide a blueprint for holistic natural resource management

• Developing ecosystem service-based restoration and conservation plans
• Conducting analysis to prioritize restoration and conservation actions
• Supporting sustainable forestry, wildfire, and carbon offset planning to provide a blueprint for holistic natural resource management

• Identifying socioeconomic and ecological indicators, and documenting indicator monitoring protocols
• Designing web-based indicator score and report cards to effectively communicate and track indicator status and trends.
• Conducting causal evaluation of restoration or impacts in relation to human activities and natural processes
• Scoping and implementation of triple-bottom line indicator accounting protocols