Abstract:
There has been considerable research that defines ecosystem services and describes the potential of ecosystem service markets to enhance services like carbon sequestration (see, for instance, Miles and Kapos 2008). Family Forest landowners are judged to be likely participants in these markets due this owner groups’ diverse goals, attachment to “place,” flexibility, human capital, and geographic/temporal scale (described in Bliss and Kelly 2008 and Fischer and Bliss 2008).
INR and CoF’s seminar was conducted in studio fashion, with students working with instructors and resource professionals to develop and implement a needs assessment that could report an answer to the question: What do family forest owners need to know, learn, and access in order to enhance provision of ecosystem services and simultaneously benefit from their production?
This document reports on the seminar’s Needs Assessment and suggests future directions for AFF’s involvement in ecosystem services from family forestlands.
