Healthy ecosystems provide a wide range of benefits, from recreational opportunities to storm surge protection. These benefits are often referred to as ecosystem services. Understanding how changes to the ecosystem may affect these benefits should play a role in the community’s decision making process.Below are the key Digital Coast resources useful for this task.
Get Started
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Training – Publication
Federal Resource Management and Ecosystem Services Guidebook
Learn about credible approaches for incorporating ecosystem services concepts into natural resource planning and management.
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Training – Video
Econ 120: Ecosystem Services
Watch a short video that examines the economic principles involved when assessing ecosystem services.
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Training – Quick Reference
Checklist: Considering an Ecosystem Services Framework for Project Planning
Use this questionnaire to assess whether an ecosystem services approach is appropriate for your project and if sufficient resources and expertise are available.
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Training – Quick Reference
Worksheet: Considering an Ecosystem Services Framework for Project Planning
Use this worksheet to think through key considerations for planning an ecosystem services project and start filling in specific details necessary to get started.
Obtain Key Data Sets
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Data
Research Reserve Monitoring and Research
Explore site-based research and monitoring data to determine how conditions are changing in both the short and long term.
Assess the Benefits
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Training – Quick Reference
Measuring the Value of Ecosystem Services
Learn about the importance of measuring the value of ecosystem services for coastal management, as well as tips and best practices.
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Tool
Integrated Valuation of Environmental Services and Trade-Offs
Use this tool to map and value goods and services from nature.
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Tool
BlueValue
Explore this searchable inventory of valuation studies that focus on an identified ecosystem and provide monetary value for these services.
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Tool
Mapping Ocean Wealth
View maps of ecosystem services and their values for use in natural resource planning.
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Training – Online Guide
Ecosystem Services Conceptual Models – Coastal Systems
Explore how a management intervention cascades through an ecological system and results in ecosystem services and other human welfare impacts.
Learn from Others
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Training – Publication
Incorporating Valuation into Coastal Restoration
Learn about a process for measuring socioeconomic benefits of salt marshes, living shorelines, and oyster reefs.
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Story from the Field
Mapping Ecosystem Services to Inform Restoration Priorities
Read this case study about spatial analysis of recreational and cultural benefits and how it informed restoration programs in the Great Lakes.
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Training – Publication
Assessing Green Infrastructure Costs and Benefits
Discover this six-step process for analyzing green infrastructure techniques in terms of cost versus benefits.
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Training – Publication
Value of Trade-Offs in Coastal Restoration and Protection
Access three case studies illustrating how economic values can be used in making restoration and coastal protection decisions.
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Tool
The Value of the National Estuarine Research Reserve System
Explore habitats within the reserve system and the services and values they provide.