Valuing and Rewarding Ecosystem Services From Rangelands

Abstract

Ecosystem services are bene ts that humankind gains from accessing natural ecosystems. For many years these services were something that both ranchers and the wider community largely took for granted but the recognition of their importance has grown rapidly as has the debate on how best to conserve and man- age them.1 This particularly applies to privately grazed range-

lands where the services extend beyond the extraction of food and ber for sale to encompass an array of services including, for example, watershed integrity, biodiversity, and cultural and aesthetic values. Range and ecological sciences have sup- ported a growing body of knowledge on the importance and complexities of ecosystem functions and their explicit links to human well-being, along with efforts to de ne and measure ecosystem services as a means of assigning values to natural capital.

DOI: 10.2458/azu_rangelands_v36i2_macleod