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EPA's Southwest Ecosystem Services Research Program
Citation:
TALLENT-HALSELL, N. G., W. G. KEPNER, AND M. WEBER. EPA's Southwest Ecosystem Services Research Program. Presented at 2009 EPA's Southwest Ecosystem Services Research Program Presentation, Tucson, AZ, January 26, 2009.
Impact/Purpose:
Flyer Presentation
Description:
EPA's Ecosystem Services Research Program (ESRP) in the Office of Research and Development (ORD) is studying ecosystem services and the benefits to human well-being provided by ecological services. As part of this research effort, the Southwest Ecosystem Services Research Program (SwESP) will identify and characterize the ecosystem services in the southwestern United States. These include services that supply water, protect water quality, protect against floods, support wildlife habitats, sequester carbon dioxide, (a greenhouse gas), and provide food and fiber. The southwestern landscape, particularly that of California, Nevada and Arizona, is highly diverse with significant portions of forest, rangeland, agriculture and deserts (i.e., Great Basin, Mohave Chihuahuan and Sonoran). The Southwestern United States has experienced a 1,500 percent population increase over the past 90 years which has placed pressure on the ecosystem services described above. The sustainability of these basic services is important to human health and well being, but they are limited and heavily impacted by humans. Research to protect, enhance and restore the many vital services provided by ecosystems is needed to support future growth and a sustainable environment. The Southwest Study is one of five community-based research projects by the ESRP conducted across the country to quantify the region’s ecosystem services and understand the human impact on those services. Understanding these interactions will help local decision makers understand the ecological costs and benefits of existing and proposed land management and growth policies. The study will have two over-lapping foci 1) the ecosystem services of the various landscapes that comprise the southwestern States, (i.e., California, Nevada and Arizona) and 2) the ecosystem services of specific study areas representative of the dominant land use types of the Southwest (e.g., San Pedro Watershed, AZ; San Luis Valley, NM). The goals of the Program are to collaborate with local, state, and federal governments, Tribes and other partners to accomplish the following: • Identify the dominant stressors that impact the southwestern United States. • Identify critical knowledge gaps in the ecological processes underlying ecosystem services. • Produce maps of ecosystem services in the Southwest based on current condition and available data. • Quantify linkages and trade-offs among bundles of ecosystem services in response to land use, climate and other variables. • Quantify the monetary and non-monetary value resulting in changes in ecosystem services due to an increase in human population and/or climate change. • Model the future responses of ecosystem services to probable future conditions. • Develop decision support tools to help decision makers in the Southwest apply the information and methods developed by this program. Using these products, decision makers can implement proactive policy and management decisions. These decisions will help ensure human well-being by conserving and enhancing ecosystem services.