Forest Ecosystem Services – Valuing All the Benefits from Forests

Healthy forest ecosystems provide many goods and services in addition to traditional wood products. They provide large areas of water filtration contributing to our clean drinking water reservoirs. They are an incredible carbon sink (in harvested and non-harvested wood stock and in soils) helping to regulate climate. They provide space for diverse wildlife, hiking, and hunting, among other things. However, generally, only the wood products are actively monetized. Identifying the combined ecosystem services is an attempt to value all the economic and social benefits that healthy ecosystem provides. Understanding the myriad of goods and services that forests provide the public may help promote conservation and good decision making by public and private landowners.

Presented 4/15/2020 by Jennifer Wightman, Cornell University, Department of Crop and Soil Science.