Ecosystem Assessment

Quarter Long Project Overview
Throughout this course you will be researching and studying a system about which you will write an ecosystem assessment at the end of the term. The goals of this project are as follows:
• Provide a description of a system that has had action taken to address an ecological problem
• Determine the ecosystem services provided by the system
• Determine a value for each of the ecosystem services provided by the system and an overall value for the system based upon the ecological services
• Compare the value of the system to the cost of the action taken to address the ecological problem
• Describe the management plan for the system and apply adaptive management steps to that plan
Completing an extensive report with the above goals is a daunting task to tackle, so the Quarter Long Project (QLP) has been designed for you to complete rough drafts of some of the sections throughout the term. At the end of the term, you will “build” the final write-up by rewriting the rough drafts into a larger document. Your final write-up will have a total of 5 sections/components as follows:
Final Write up sections/components
Background
• Identify/describe main environmental issue and human impacts exacerbating problem
• Describe importance of system
• Justify need for system assessment
Relevant Ecosystem services
• Identify and describe ecosystem services provided by the system
• Describe how these services are provided
Values of each relevant service and how calculated
• Describe method for quantifying dollar value of each service provided by system (including calculation for entire area of system)
• Include a table of ecosystem services provided by your system and their values
• Compare your calculated value to costs associated with management actions
Management evaluation: Value of services relative to cost of management action
• Explain the current management plan/action
• Considering adaptive management concepts, discuss how system could/should be managed to ensure services are sustainably maintained
• Summarize implications of your study and its findings as a sustainable management case example
References
• Must have at least 10 valid citations for this study
The QLP assignments
To prepare for the final write-up you will complete 6 QLP assignments. The first is the topic choice assignment for the project. The second is a research assignment that is designed to help you find quality sources for your project. The other four assignments are numbered (QLP 1-4) and will each be a rough draft of specific section for your final write-up. When you turn in each QLP 1-4 assignment, the LA will provide you with a score based upon the rubric for that section and comments that you will use to improve that section for the final write-up. When you re-write each section for the final write-up, you

will need to use the comments to re-write each section in order to create a high-scoring final paper at the end of the term. The Title and References are not paragraph sections so you will prepare/write these without any feedback. The QLP will be used to assess how well you understood the information provided to you in this course and how well you can apply it to this project. The QLP assignments and their applicable sections are outlined below.
QLP 1: A draft of your Background information

QLP 2: Ecosystem Services. This includes a description of the ecosystem services of your chosen system and an explanation of how the system provides each service. This assignment will be a rough draft of the section called “Relevant Ecosystem Services” in your final paper.

QLP 3: Economic value of the system. This assignment describes the methods to determine economic value of each ecosystem service provided by your system, how you determined those values, the calculation of the total area of your system, and the calculated economic value for the entire system based upon your ecosystem service values and your total area. This assignment will be a rough draft for the “Values of each relevant service and how calculated” section of your final write-up

QLP4: A draft of the “Management evaluation: Value of services relative to cost of management action” section of your paper in which you will describe how adaptive management should/could be applied to your system.

Each of these assignments has it’s own description document that will be posted in the QLP folder on the D2L page for this course. In each of these documents, the specific requirements for each assignment will be explained. For each assignment, make sure you read the descriptions intently in order to include all the necessary parts/pieces that are necessary for full credit. The description documents will each be posted at the appropriate times throughout the quarter in order to allow you enough time to complete them by the due date (at least one week before it’s due date).
The systems
The first step of this project is for you to pick a system about which you will focus your QLP assignments and the final write-up. For this project you are not allowed to pick just any system. You must pick one of the specific systems described below. As you read these short descriptions, think about which type of system interests you most. The three types of systems represented here are treatment wetlands, watersheds that provide municipal water, and dams that need to be removed. Each of these systems requires its own, unique work for this project such that none of these will be less work than any other, so you should pick based upon interest alone because you will be studying this system for many hours throughout this term. Review and read about all of the systems before you make your choice.

System 1: Reducing river temperature and pollution using treatment wetlands in Albany, Oregon
The main stem of the Willamette is a 187-mile river that flows north through the Willamette Valley in western Oregon. A long history of agriculture and development along the river has reduced riparian zones and fringe wetlands along much of its’ length. Riparian vegetation and fringe wetlands provide many important ecosystem services that are crucial for a healthy, functioning river ecosystem. In 2006, the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality completed an assessment of the river that required municipalities to implement actions to improve water quality. As a response to this assessment, the cities of Millersburg and Albany (both in Oregon) have created a series of connected ponds and wetlands that reduce water temperature and increase water quality for effluent that is put into the Willamette River. They did this instead of putting in a cooling tower. This is a good example of green vs hard infrastructure.
Your assessment of this system would be to compare the costs of building this system to the environmental costs of not building the system. The main problems that need to be addressed for this system are increased river temperature and increased river pollution from human impacts.
Justification for this assessment must address how treatment wetlands can control both rising river temperature and rising pollution levels.
System 2: Water provisioning through watershed management in NYC
New York City is built on a large, productive estuary. During the early years of settlement in the 1600’s, there was enough clean water to sustain the population. As the population grew in the 1700’s, waste and pollution caused the water to become unhealthy. The solution was to bring water in from nearby lakes and reservoirs located in pristine watersheds. Throughout the 1800’s and early 1900’s, many reservoirs and watersheds were added to the system, all providing water with excellent quality. For many decades, NYC prided itself on great water that required very little additional treatment due to it’s watershed provisioning. However, improper protection of the watershed in some areas has led to a deterioration of the water quality.
Your assessment of this system would include a study of how watersheds provide clean water and then apply those concepts to the watershed that supplies NYC with clean water. The main problem here is deteriorating water quality in a watershed due to human impacts. Justification for this assessment must address the cost effectiveness of protecting a watershed over application of other large-scale water purifying techniques.
System 3: Removal of the Marmot Dam in Oregon
The Marmot dam was constructed on the Sandy River in 1913. Its purpose was to supplement water inflow to a nearby lake on the Little Sandy River and to help supply power to the Mount Hood Railway and Power Company. The original Marmot dam was a timber crib dam and was later converted to a concrete dam. Based upon maintenance costs and poor performance, it was decided in 2002 to decommission the dam. The operating license was allowed to lapse in 2004 and the dam was removed in 2007. The focus of this class topic will be on the river system that was created when the dam was removed. This is a good project for studying the cost of ecosystem restoration compared to the value of the ecosystem. It will be your job to study the system and determining whether or not removing the dam paid off. So don’t get confused about your topic here, it’s not the dam itself, it’s the comparison of the value of the river system to the cost of removing the dam.
You will be studying the ecosystem services provided by rivers by determining a value for the stretch of the river below the dam that was changed by the removal. So, the main problem you are studying here is the negative impact of the Marmot dam on the Sandy River. Justification for this assessment will involve explaining the importance of assessing the cost effectiveness of removing a dam and restoring the river ecosystem versus leaving the dam as it was.
Getting Started On The QLP
Creating this paper/assessment of an ecosystem will be a daunting task. It’s important that you take it one step at a time, or in this, case one assignment at a time.
Your first step/assignment is to pick a topic for the QLP. Open the description document for the Topic Choice assignment, read the requirements for assignment, research each topic based upon the directions provided in the description document, and then complete and turn in the assignment.