Session 8 – Quantifying and valuing ecosystem goods and services; applications and on-the-ground stories
Presenters are indicated in bold type.
Afternoon Session – Arnold Room (North Wing, 1st floor)
Co-Chairs: Sam Roy, University of Maine; Tania Briceno, Earth Economics
The session will include an overview of concepts and methods for identifying, quantifying, and valuing ecosystem services; with a particular focus on water ecosystem valuations. The first half of the session will be dedicated to reviewing the state of the art for valuing water systems and explore different approaches and end goods and services that can be tied to water quality and quantity changes. In order to ground the theory; the second half of the session will showcase case studies and ongoing projects looking at water services across the United States. These can include coastal restoration projects, flood-plain management, natural capital accounting efforts by water utilities, the use of ecosystem service values in watershed protection initiatives, and others.
1:30PM – 1:55PM
Evaluating Kelp’s Potential to Remediate Nitrogen in the Western Gulf of Maine
Gretchen Grebe (student)1, Todd Jagoutz2, Barry Costa-Pierce3, Kate Beard1, Damian Brady1, Carrie Byron3
1 University of Maine
2 Sea Greens Farms
3 University of New England
* Presentation not available. Please contact Gretchen Grebe with any questions.
State resource managers have warned of impending marine water quality criteria for nitrogen (Maine DEP, 2014). Meanwhile, marine seaweed farming has become a topic of great interest within the state, and although the market is growing, sugar kelp (Saccharina latissima) farmers are seeking additional sources of revenue. Sugar kelp is a brown seaweed that assimilates nitrogen from the surrounding ecosystem for use in important biological processes. In acknowledgement of this ability to take-up nitrogen, resource managers and kelp farmers speculate that nitrogen-mitigation banking might be a potential win-win solution to remediate land-based nitrogen inputs to coastal waters and encourage the growth of the seaweed aquaculture industry in Maine.
This project is being conducted in partnership with kelp farmers located in Saco (1), Casco (3), and Penobscot Bays (1). Nitrate, nitrite, and total Kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN) levels in nearshore marine waters are compared to the total nitrogen in the kelp tissue to gauge quantity and rate of nitrogen assimilation occurring in the kelp. The degree to which the farmed kelp is assimilating nitrogen from anthropogenic sources is estimated by measuring the nitrogen isotope value, or δ15N, in the kelp tissue. Preliminary results indicate that variation in kelp morphology results in a range of total nitrogen bioremediated by the kelp but the economic impact of this variation is minimal. Results from this research will a) increase the industry’s understanding of the relationship between nutrients and kelp growth, and b) shed light on the potential for nitrogen-mitigation banking on the Maine Coast.
2:00PM – 2:25PM
Balancing use and sustainability of ecosystem services in dammed rivers: a trade-off assessment in New England
Samuel G. Roy1, Emi Uchida2, Simone Pereira de Souza3, Ben Blachly2, Kevin Gardner3, Arthur Gold2, David Hart1, Jessica Jansujwicz4, Sharon Klein4, Emma Fox4, Bridie McGreavy4, Weiwei Mo3, Sean M.C. Smith1, Emily Vogler5, Karen Wilson6, Joseph Zydlewski4,7
1 Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions, University of Maine,
2 University of Rhode Island
3 University of New Hampshire
4 University of Maine
5 Rhode Island School of Design
6 University of Southern Maine
7 US Geological Survey
Dam removal has become a cornerstone of environmental restoration practice in the United States. One positive outcome of dam removal is restored access to historic habitat for sea-run fish, providing a crucial gain in ecosystem resilience. But dams also provide stakeholders with valuable services, and uncertain socio-ecological outcomes can arise if there is not careful consideration of the basin scale trade offs caused by dam removal. In addition to fisheries, dam removals can significantly affect landscape nutrient flux, municipal water storage, recreational use of lakes and rivers, property values, hydroelectricity generation, the cultural meaning of dams, and many other river-based ecosystem services.
We use a production possibility frontiers approach to explore dam decision scenarios and opportunities for trading between ecosystem services that are positively or negatively affected by dam removal in New England. Scenarios that provide efficient trade off potentials are identified using a multiobjective genetic algorithm. Our results suggest that for many river systems, there is a significant potential to increase the value of fisheries and other ecosystem services with minimal dam removals, and further increases are possible by including decisions related to dam operations and physical modifications.
Our method is helpful for identifying efficient decision scenarios, but finding the optimal decision requires a deep and mutual understanding of stakeholder preferences. We outline how to interpret these preferences, identify overlaps across efficient decision scenarios, and estimate the monetary budget required to act on these decisions.
2:30PM – 3:00PM
Afternoon Break (Auditorium)
3:00PM – 3:25PM
How have the ecosystem services of Schoodic Peninsula changed since the development of the Schoodic Woods Campground?
Alyson East (student)1, Joseph Cicero1, Nick Fisichelli2, Kate Ruskin1, Aaron Strong1
1 University of Maine
2 Schoodic Institute at Acadia National Park
Ecosystem services are the economic benefits provided to humans for free by ecosystems, and they provide a framework for managing public lands as a socio-ecological system. Ecosystem services allow managers to ask questions such as ‘does developing public land and enhancing its use for tourism ultimately create benefits to its stakeholders that outweigh the impacts of the development itself?’ In 2015, ANP opened the Schoodic Woods Campground which hosts 97 campsites, accompanied by 7 miles of new gravel bicycle paths, 5 miles of hiking trails, a visitor center, and parking for 100 cars (National Park Service). With this project, we estimated the valuation of ecosystem services provided by Schoodic Peninsula focusing on its three greatest contributors: 1) biodiversity and wildlife habitat, 2) recreation and tourism, and 3) carbon storage, and estimate how these valuations have changed since the developments of the Schoodic Woods Campground. Preliminary results suggest that bird species richness is highest near human developments, especially the campground, and decreases moving away from them. The results of this project will inform the evolution of development on Schoodic Peninsula, creating an opportunity for strategic growth that preserves ecosystem services such as biodiversity and carbon storage, while optimizing tourist revenue and benefitting local businesses.
3:30PM – 3:55PM
Quantifying and valuing ecosystem goods and services of the Reedy River watershed, S.C. and Lake Sonoma, CA
Tania Briceno
Earth Economics
A framework for identifying, quantifying, and valuing ecosystem services associated with water and adjacent ecosystems is proposed; including watershed attributes that give way to different types of values. First, a review of the state of the art for valuing water systems will be presented. Then a case study valuing water services in Lake Sonoma, CA, and in the Reedy River, SC, will be presented. An overview of how these valuations are being integrated into policy and markets will be provided.