Doctoral Dissertation Research: Assessing and Mapping Ecosystem Service Uses and Values Among National Forest Stakeholders

San Diego State University Foundation, San Diego CA

Investigators

Abstract

This doctoral dissertation research improvement project focuses on developing methods to equitably inform U.S. public land management based on improved understanding of the values and uses a wide range of stakeholder groups have regarding public lands. The U.S. Forest Service has been tasked with including the variety of benefits individuals and society obtain from ecosystems, often called ecosystem services, in National Forest planning and decision-making. While the concept aims to directly link environmental decision-making with human wellbeing, there is little guidance on how to collect and include data related to human wellbeing and cultural values in ecosystem service-based management. A first step in giving more attention to wellbeing and cultural values through an ecosystem services framework is to better understand the diverse ways National Forest lands are used and valued by different stakeholder groups. This research will provide data and demonstrate methods that can be used to fulfill statutory requirements for National Forest planning going forward, while allowing stakeholder groups to provide input into public lands management. Furthermore, results will be shared with the Forest Service and presented to stakeholder groups, improving understanding of priorities and highlighting values that are shared among groups. As a Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement award, this project will provide support to enable a promising student to establish an independent research career. While the concept of ecosystem services has risen in prominence as a decision-making framework over the last two decades, analysis has often focused on few, easily quantifiable services rather than the more difficult to quantify cultural benefits that individuals and society may value most. This research will address this knowledge gap through the development of participatory approaches for identifying, valuing, and mapping ecosystem services that will link the concept with the resource use, cultural values, and livelihoods of diverse stakeholder groups. First, investigation of which ecosystem services are identified, used, prioritized, and most valued by different stakeholder groups will be conducted through semi-structured interviews. Secondly, participants will engage in a participatory mapping exercise focused on understanding the spatial patterns of the uses and values they have identified across the landscape, which will be input into geographic information system software and analyzed. Finally, these place-based findings uncovered from participatory engagement with multiple groups will be compared with non-participatory methods for ecosystem service assessment, including spatial models of ecosystem service provision and results from semi-structured interviews with forest managers that uncover institutional ecosystem service priorities. While this project focuses on developing these methods and establishing data for Gifford Pinchot National Forest, the methods used will applicable to public lands across the United States. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.