Water is an Ecosystem Service
The U.S. Forest Service promotes that one of the most important ecosystem services of our 154 national forests (Map 1) is water. In my mind though, water is not one of the most important; rather it is the most important. But before we explore my thought, what exactly are ecosystem services?
Map 1. Our 154 national forests are scattered across the country. Most forests are in the headwaters of major river basins such as the Columbia, Colorado and Mississippi. A considerable number are also near heavily populated areas such as the Pacific Northwest, west coast of California, Wasatch Front in Utah, and the Front Range of Colorado. These two facts support why the Forest Service promotes water as an important ecosystem service.
What are Ecosystem Services?
The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment – linking earth’s ecosystems to human well-being and development
Former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan requested the Millennium Ecosystem Asessment in 2000. Working groups started a full range of appraisals in 2001. The groups completed their reports by the end of 2005 and made them available to the public.
…the objective of the MA was to assess the consequences of ecosystem change for human well-being and the scientific basis for action needed to enhance the conservation and sustainable use of those systems and their contribution to human well-being. The MA has involved the work of more than 1,360 experts worldwide. Their findings, contained in five technical volumes and six synthesis reports, provide a state-of-the-art scientific appraisal of the condition and trends in the world’s ecosystems and the services they provide (such as clean water, food, forest products, flood control, and natural resources) and the options to restore, conserve or enhance the sustainable use of ecosystems.
Ecosystems and ecosystem services defined
The first product of the United Nations assessment was Ecosystems and Human Well-being – A Framework for Assessment. The definition of ecosystem service and ecosystem are presented in Chapter 2 of this framework document.
Ecosystem services are the benefits people obtain from ecosystems. These include provisioning services such as food and water; regulating services such as flood and disease control; cultural services such as spiritual, recreational, and cultural benefits; and supporting services, such as nutrient cycling, that maintain the conditions for life on Earth.
An ecosystem is a dynamic complex of plant, animal, and microorganism communities and the nonliving environment, interacting as a functional unit. Humans are an integral part of ecosystems.
Note there are four categories of ecosystem services – provisioning, regulating, cultural, and supporting. Also note the categories are not exclusive because there can be linkage between them. One such example, as shown in the ecosystem services definition, is the fresh water provisioning and regulating link.
I believe though there is fresh water linkage between all four ecosystem services categories. Water, when you think about it, is a critical component of spiritual, recreational, and cultural benefits. Water is also a critical component of nutrient cycling.
Public Lands Water Towers
The Most Important Ecosystem Service
Referring back to Water Facts, “the Forest Service manages the largest single source of water in the U.S., with about 20 percent originating from 193 million acres of land“. That is a lot of water. More specifically:
Some 180 million people in over 68,000 communities rely on these forested lands to capture and filter their drinking water
Forest Service lands are located in source areas for many important rivers as well as local and regional aquifer systems. They are the largest source of municipal water supply in the Nation, serving over 66 million people in 3,400 communities in 33 States
Major U.S. cities that may seem distant from forests actually rely on water from agency lands. For example, Los Angeles, Portland, Denver, and Atlanta receive a significant portion of their water supply from national forests
Photograph 1. Wind River Mountain Range, one of many of Wyoming’s water towers.
Furthermore,
The value of water flowing from agency lands has been estimated to be $7.2 billion annually
Water on NFS lands provides, maintains, and supports other related ecological and societal services such as biological diversity; threatened and endangered species and habitats; spawning and rearing habitat for sport and commercial fish species; and agricultural irrigation, navigation, and flood control
National forests and grasslands supply some of the highest quality surface waters in the country, yielding some of the best drinking water and industrial process water sources
Close to 75 percent of the nation’s outdoor recreation takes place within one-half mile of streams or other water bodies. The 44 million sport fishing anglers purchase goods and services totaling roughly $4 billion annually
The national forests and grasslands support more than 46 million fishing visits annually, generating over $2 billion in revenues, supporting about 51,000 jobs, and generating more than $264 million in Federal taxes
Reservoirs located on agency lands provide recreational opportunities, flood control, energy generation for more than 18 million homes, and water storage capacity
National Forest System watersheds support refugia for rare, endemic species and will play an ever increasing role as climate changes and wildlands are converted to other uses
Water for Thought
Given the obvious messages outlined in the United Nations Millennium Ecosystem Assessment and the hard numbers provided in Forest Service Water Facts, I believe it would be hard for any of us, including politicians, to ignore or dismiss the importance of our public lands as sources of fresh water. The provisioning, regulating, cultural, and supporting services provided by fresh water, the most basic and critical element of our blue marble, is just simply too valuable to play games with.
John Steinbeck, writing about California’s Salinas Valley, captured in very explicit words, the importance of water towers in his 1952 novel, East of Eden.
And it never failed that during the dry years the people forgot about the rich years, and during the wet years they lost all memory of the dry years. It was always that way.
Public lands water towers provide much of the water used in the Salinas Valley. There are many “Salinas Valleys” across our great land. Fresh reliable water from public lands water towers is what gets us through the good years and the dry years.
Tomorrow is the first day of 2017. May the new year bring hope that we come to our senses and resolve to keep our public lands in public hands!
HAPPY NEW YEAR!