Nature’s Value
in the Salish Sea
Earth Economics partnered with the Washington Department of Ecology and Puget Sound Partnership to produce a study that reveals the breadth and magnitude of the ecosystem services provided by the Salish Sea Basin’s lands and waters. The results—an estimated US $124 billion in ecosystem services every year— show significant benefits to restoring natural capital in the Salish Sea. You can find the ecosystem services value for your area by using our interactive web map below.
A second report focuses on value changes in landcover in Island County, Whidbey Basin, and contributing watersheds from 1992 to 2016. The ecosystems within this study area produced over $1.4 billion in non-market benefits each year.
NATURE’S CAPITAL: THE BENEFITS OF ECOSYSTEM SERVICES
The lands and waters of the Salish Sea Basin support people’s livelihoods and well-being both directly and indirectly in a number of ways. A direct source of food production, employment, disaster risk reduction, and recreational opportunities, the basin also provides indirect benefits such as water and air filtration, fish and wildlife habitat, and more. Yet these ecosystems—and the benefits they provide—are threatened by pollution, development pressures, and unsustainable land management.
Many of the Salish Sea’s benefits can be quantified in economic terms, a process that illuminates the value of protecting and restoring the Salish Sea. By calculating the value of ecosystem goods and services—the economic benefits the basin’s ecosystems provide to humans—we can include nature in the decision-making process.
The Salish Sea Basin provides an estimated US $124 billion in ecosystem services every year. Over a fifth of that value (22 percent) comes from water quality-related services, underscoring the need to protect both the Salish Sea and contributing inland watersheds.
The Salish Sea Basin
The Salish Sea Basin spans across 26.8 million acres from Olympia, Washington to Mt. Waddington, British Columbia, and from Neah Bay to the Cascade Range. With a name originating from the indigenous Coast Salish peoples, the Salish Sea has only recently been recognized as one ecosystem covering both U.S. and Canadian waterways, including the Puget Sound, Strait of Georgia, and Juan de Fuca ecosystems. Today, in spite of growing pressures from population growth, the basin remains rich with life, home to over eight million people and 3,400 marine species—including 126 threatened or endangered species.[i] The region’s human population is expected to rise to over 10.5 million by 2040 and increase pressure on the basin’s ecosystems through development-driven deforestation and water quality degradation from urban waste and stormwater.
Because the basin’s hydrological and biophysical nature transcends manmade political boundaries, minimizing human-caused degradation of this natural asset requires cooperation between governments. In recognition of the transboundary nature of these ecosystems, our study area extends beyond borders to encompass the entire Salish Sea Basin, including Canadian drainages.
Why Value Ecosystem Services?
Considering ecosystem service values ultimately strengthens decision-making. When natural capital and ecosystem services are not quantified, they are effectively valued at zero in the decision-making process, an omission that can lead to inefficient investments and translate to higher future costs and poor asset management strategies.
The dynamic complexity of most ecosystems—and the range of ecosystem goods and services they produce—makes it exceptionally difficult to substitute or replace these with human-made infrastructure and technology. Short-term gains from activities that degrade or destroy ecosystem function are often dwarfed by the lost long-term economic value of functional ecosystems.[ii]
One key example in the Salish Sea Basin is logging. As old growth forests have been logged and then replaced with monocrop timber plantations, ecosystem services have been impacted. Monocrop timber plantations reduce stream flows and degrade fish habitat—especially that of salmon.[iii] Yet forests are also a source of significant value. The basin’s landscape is dominated by forests and estuaries, both of which provide significant value. Forests in particular account for three quarters of the basin’s value, and they play a critical role in climate change mitigation by sequestering and storing carbon from the atmosphere.
Find Your Local Ecosystem Services Value
The interactive web map below was created to illustrate the non-market value of the basin at different scales: country, county or regional district, watershed, and tribe and first nation lands. Use the arrows in the upper lefthand corner to toggle on and off your desired regional scale.
Making the Case for Protection and Restoration
Cross-boundary collaboration and cooperation between U.S. and Canadian governments, NGO’s, and tribes and First Nations are crucial to restoring and protecting the Salish Sea. Threats to the ecological balance—like climate change and development pressure—endanger these sustainable, nature-based benefits and compromise the livelihoods and quality of life of all its residents.
By understanding and leveraging the immense value of ecosystem services and how they shape the regional economy, Salish Sea stakeholders can plan effectively for policies, public investment, and decision-making around natural resource management. Although water quality improvement and protection; salmon habitat restoration; and forest conservation are priorities for U.S. and Canadian stakeholders, ecosystem degradation is still happening faster than restoration and protection.
Collaborative private, tribal, and NGO partners can accelerate this work by advocating for ecosystem services valuation use in government planning processes. Including them allows for the full consideration of nature-based alternatives to built infrastructure—like those likely to be planned soon with funding from Congress’ recently-passed 2021 Infrastructure Investment Bill—and can support the region’s long-term economic growth.
Contact Earth Economics to learn more | Visit Wa Department of Ecology Water & Shorelines
References
[i] Environmental Protection Agency, 2021. Health of the Salish Sea Report. Available at: www.epa.gov/salish-sea.
[ii] Guyon, L., Deutsch, C., Lundh, J., & Urich, R, 2012. Upper Mississippi River Systematic Forest Stewardship Plan. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). Available at: www.mvd.usace.army.mil/Portals/52/docs/regional_flood_risk_management/our_mississippi/UMRSystemicFSP7-26-12.pdf (accessed 9.9.21).
[iii] Sobocinski, K.L., 2021. Section 3: Urbanization and Human Impacts to the Seascape. In K.L. Sobocinski, State of the Salish Sea. Salish Sea Institute, Western Washington University. http://doi.org/10.25710/vfhb-3a69
This project has been funded wholly or in part by the United States Environmental Protection Agency under assistance agreement PC-01J18101 to The Department of Ecology. The contents of these documents do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the Environmental Protection Agency, nor does mention of trade names or commercial products constitute endorsement or recommendation for use.
