FS Research

Forest Service research for ecosystem services addresses the following:

• Inventory and monitoring research: Developing protocols for measuring and tracking changes in ecosystem services.

• Global change research: Conducting integrated assessments of forest ecosystem response to global change; exploring methods for measuring carbon and greenhouse gas sequestration; understanding the impacts of climate change on ecosystems and people; exploring climate change mitigation and adaption options for natural resource management.

  • Climate Change Resource Center (CCRC)
  • National Program for Global Change Research
  • Northern Global Change Research Program
  • Southern Global Change Research Program
  • Rocky Mountain Research Station: Climate Change
  • Pacific Southwest Research Station: Climate Change
  • Pacific Northwest Research Station: Climate change

  Global Change Research Strategy 2009-2019: Synthesis (February 2008)
  PDF, 0.2 MB
  United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service Research and Development

• Ecological research: Examining ecosystem processes and their relationship to ecosystem services in both aquatic and terrestrial systems.
• Social, economic, and policy research: Understanding the effectiveness of policy and program options to influence land managers, the feasibility of market mechanisms, human values associated with nature, and valuation of ecosystem services.

Selected publications and papers

Counting All That Matters: Recognizing the Value of Ecosystem Services
PDF, 1.1 MB
Pacific Northwest Research Station
Science Update, Spring 2008

Defining an Economics Research Program to Describe and Evaluate Ecosystem Services
PDF, 3.5 MB
Jeffrey D. Kline

State of knowledge: ecosystem services from forests
PDF, 0.2 MB

A Forest Service report that summarizes policies, current tools, and technologies related to ecosystem services valuation and market creation. The report reviews four services in detail - biomass, carbon sequestration, water, and recreational opportunity – and describes how current or proposed policy instruments may affect their measurement, valuation, and management. Suggested citation: Notman, E. et al. 2006. State of knowledge: ecosystem services from forests. Unpublished white paper. U.S. Forest Service, 56 p.