Ecosystem Services in a Transitional Forest Landscape: Shifting Trajectories in Southeast Michigan, USA. Issue 4 (3rd April 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Clay, Nathan; Yurco, Kayla; Agrawal, Arun; Persha, Lauren
• Is Part Of: Society and natural resources. Volume 31:Issue 4(2018)
• Page Start: 457
• Page End: 472
• Publication Date: 2018-04-03
• Subjects: Ecosystem services -- exurban forest -- forest management -- landscape history -- local institutions -- multifunctional forest; Natural resources -- Social aspects -- Periodicals; 333.7
• DOI: 10.1080/08941920.2017.1413692
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0894-1920

Abstract

ABSTRACT: North American forests provide multiple ecosystem services, such as carbon storage, biodiversity, and recreation. These services are often coordinated through multifunctional management, whereby various users and owners contribute to collective agendas. Forests in exurban "transition" zones are crucial components in the sustainability of broader metropolitan landscapes, but represent a particularly understudied confluence of ecosystem services and multifunctional management. In this paper, we develop a place-based approach to assess ecosystem services in transitional forests (those between rural and urban). We demonstrate how trajectories of forest composition are linked with shifting ecosystem services that both shape and are shaped by management activities. Sited in Stinchfield Woods, a forest in southeast Michigan, this study draws on a household survey, interviews, ecological data, and archival information. Given variations in priorities over time and among different users, we suggest that coordinated, adaptive management may improve provisioning of ecosystem services in ways that benefit multiple users.