Given the rapid environmental change experienced and expected across the Appalachians, it will be crucial to understand the vulnerabilities of valued ecosystem services to drivers of large-scale change that may threaten their sustainability. The Appalachian LCC has partnered with the US Forest Service Eastern Forest Environmental Threat Assessment Center to assess ecosystem services, and vulnerabilities to environmental risk factors, throughout the Appalachians. Synthesizing current knowledge of the diverse benefits that people derive from functioning Appalachian ecosystems will help managers, scientists, industries, and the public to establish a common language for linking the environmental and economic values of the region’s natural assets in a way that encourages protection of and investments in these resources.
Forest Service researchers are collaborating with the National Environmental Modeling and Analysis Center to design and implement the inventory and synthesis of assessments, which will be delivered as an integrated component of the Appalachian LCC web portal.
