National Ecosystem Services Strategy Team (NESST)

The National Ecosystem Services Strategy Team (NESST) collaboratively develops and integrates ecosystem services into Forest Service programs, policies, and operations. This work elevates the agency mission by identifying the breadth of benefits that forests and grasslands provide, analyzing the impacts of our decisions on these benefits, and inviting a diverse set of partners to ensure their sustained delivery.

NESST identified three major opportunities in which incorporating ecosystem services science, tools, and connections assists the agency in achieving its goals:

• Performance: Quantify and communicate the value of resources and impacts of management actions in terms of benefits to people through measurement and reporting;
• Planning: Consider the full suite of services in analysis, decision-making, and priority setting;
• Partnerships: Connect providers and beneficiaries of ecosystem services through partnerships and shared investments.

Approach

The term “ecosystem services” refers to the regulating, supporting, cultural, and provisioning benefits people receive from healthy natural systems. The concept helps the Forest Service connect with people as it carries out its mission to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of the nation’s forests and grasslands to meet the needs of the present and future generations. The ecosystem services discipline uses science, analytical tools, and collaboration to help the agency implement a more precise, transparent, and inclusive way of pursuing this mission. It provides the Forest Service a frame through which to reveal and address natural and human-caused changes affecting management decisions. The science of measurement and reporting helps define and articulate the value of forests and grasslands to people. Analytical tools help us discover and understand tradeoffs between decisions on the ground. These elements form the basis for more collaborative and effective relationships with people and communities across the urban and rural continuum, helping us meet the needs of a diverse range of partners while sustaining the health of the land. 

Related Project

General Equilibrium Model of Ecosystem Services