- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
![About 60% of California water flows from the state's forests, an invaluable ecosystem service.](https://ucanr.edu/blogs/Green/blogfiles/64311small.jpg)
The ecosystem services of landscapes in California are essential to the state's future, but many people take them for granted.
In addition to direct economic outputs, working landscapes – farms, rangelands, forests and fisheries, to name a few – sequester carbon, capture water, support wildlife, offer picturesque views and make space for hiking, skiing, boating and other recreational activities.
“We need to put a value to ecosystem services, from an economic standpoint, that incentivizes people who own and manage these landscapes so they can continue to manage them for everyone's benefit,” said Stephanie Larson, UC Cooperative Extension rangeland...
- Contributor: Ann King Filmer
- Author: Robin DeRieux
![John Largier along the northern California coast. (Photo: Jennifer Sauter/UC Davis)](https://ucanr.edu/blogs/Green/blogfiles/16245small.jpg)
Ocean waters are warming, sea level is rising, seawater is becoming more acidic, and shoreline erosion is intensifying. The world’s oceans are reacting to increased carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the earth’s atmosphere.
“The physical and chemical environment of the ocean is changing with the climate,” said John Largier of the UC Davis Bodega Marine Laboratory. “This affects ecosystems — like tidal marshes and coral reefs that protect us from storms and flooding.”
The ocean brings stability to the earth’s climate. It heats up and cools down more slowly than the land and the air. With climate...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
![Open space in San Bernardino County, including Big Bear Lake and Lucerne Dry Lake. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)](https://ucanr.edu/blogs/Green/blogfiles/10023small.jpg)
The closer homes are to open spaces – parks, stream and river corridors, forests and other natural lands – the higher the value of the homes in Riverside and San Bernardino counties. However, if homes are far from such open land, homebuyers tend to place an especially high value on lot size.
These were some of the findings of research, which graduate student Monobina Mukherjee at UC Riverside conducted in collaboration with Linda Fernandez, a former associate professor in the UC Riverside Department of Environmental Sciences. A summary of this research is in the September-October 2011 issue of UPDATE, a newsletter published by the Giannini Foundation...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
![UC Cooperative Extension rangeland farm advisor Royce Larsen, left, discusses the ground-level water trough with inventor George Work.](https://ucanr.edu/blogs/Green/blogfiles/9144small.jpg)
“Water is the driver of nature.” - Leonardo da Vinci
California’s vast dry rangelands are dotted with water troughs ideal for quenching cattle’s thirst. But in most cases, the troughs’ designs are a torment to wildlife drawn for a drink.
Monterey County rancher George Work observed how traditional water troughs frustrated the wildlife on his family’s 12,000-acre cattle ranch. Small birds couldn’t reach water two or three inches below the top edge. Coyotes, bobcats and cottontails weren’t tall enough to reach over the rim. Work set to making a water trough that would meet the needs of all animals on the range – from cattle, hunting dogs and horses to deer and rabbits.
While raising cattle remains...
- Author: Pamela Kan-Rice
![More than 120 workshop attendees listen to a speaker in a grassy field at UC’s Sierra Foothill Research and Extension Center.](https://ucanr.edu/blogs/Green/blogfiles/9051small.jpg)
Ecosystem services is a new term I've been hearing. Naturally I wondered, what are these services and is the ecosystem serving me? Ecosystem services are benefits we receive from the environment, such as clean water, open space, beautiful scenery, food production, wildlife habitat and diversity of plants and animals.
Not surprisingly, ecosystem services appeal to a broad audience. However, in the past, many people advocated for a single favored service and would fight with those who were partial to a different service. Now there is a strong trend toward partnerships.
“There’s been sea change on the topic of livestock management and rangeland ecosystem services,” said