Program on the Environment

Salmon habitat restoration improves the health and function of watershed components which, in turn, provide a broader suite of benefits termed “ecosystem services”. Ecosystem services are the conditions and processes through which natural ecosystems and the species that make them up sustain and fulfill life. There is a lack of stakeholder and community awareness of the allencompassing human benefits that come from watershed habitat protection and restoration. The aim of this study was to identify disparities in how ecosystem services are articulated and use this information to increase inclusive and holistic thinking about how humans will benefit from the protection and restoration of watershed habitat. To gather evidence, I completed a literature review of over 40 scientific studies, identifying the most noteworthy ecosystem service that was assessed within each study (e.g. provisional, regulatory, cultural, or supporting services). My results found that regulatory services (e.g. nutrient filtration, flood control, etc.) are most often articulated within scientific literature, demonstrating an inconsistency in how different types of watershed habitat services are perceived and prioritized in restoration and protection projects. By identifying that we most often place valuation on services that are easily quantifiable (e.g. regulatory services) over those that are not (e.g. cultural or supporting services) establishes that there is a necessity for new methods of valuation to be developed. All ecosystem services should be recognized and prioritized equally, and thus my results identify benefits in watershed habitat restoration that as a society we can better acknowledge and communicate.