Recreation as an ecosystem service how important is it?

As I read the question about what ecosystem service I value most, my mind went to so many possibilities! I agree with you Stephanie, that clean water is number one and that it is tied to all of the others. I want to know that the water I drink is safe for my family. I want to know that the river water I raft and swim in is safe for my family.  I want to know that the Kokanee we catch and eat is safe for my family. I want that same fresh water to be available for my garden so that my kids can see where their food comes from. In the winter, I want fresh, clean snow for skiing, sledding, and catching flakes on our tongues.

In response to your question, how do we help students see the importance of all of the ecosystem services and how they are interconnected, I think we begin with the same question that was posed to us.

I would provide the background information necessary for them to know what ecosystem services are and give them examples. Next, I would give them time (perhaps overnight) to decide which they feel is most important. (My hope is that they will really try to narrow it down to just one or two specific ones per student.) 

The following day, I would ask them each to share with the class which one(s) they chose and why.  As they presented, I would list them on the board (perhaps classifying by the four categories). I would then ask them to try to connect as many of them together as possible. Perhaps, they could even be guided in this by providing an example of a change in the watershed (thinking of last year's extensive forest fires) and ask them how would each of the services be impacted by this. (They could research the topic themselves and I would also provide any resources I could gather.)(I see this as something that would be covered after they have an understanding of what is a watershed and how water reaches the Treasure Valley.)

I would think they could cite loss of vegetation and its impact on wildlife in the immediate area (impacting recreation for hunters and wildlife lovers as well as erosion/nutrient loss due to spring run off). They should be able to connect this to increased sediment/deadfall in the waterways which impacts fish (both wild and hatchery raised as fast moving/muddy water prevents stocking of popular fisheries) and therefor recreation. Then there is the issue of flooding which can lead to pollution as waterways go beyond their banks. The pollutants that are picked up then get passed to the organisms within the river system and also the irrigation systems for crops. And, the list of impacts would go on.

I think having them follow the water from the top down would help them to see how each of the services relies on fresh water and how the rely on each other.

Now I feel like I'm the one that has rambled!

Thank you Stephanie! After thinking some more, I thought about how this could be taken all the way to the ocean. I remember how surprised my students are when I talk about the salmon returning to Redfish Lake. I don't think they realize that our mountain water goes beyond Idaho. 

What ecosystem service do you value most in your watershed? Why? 

I would also agree with having clean water! I live in Cassia county, but work in Minidoka county which had a record year of snowfall this last winter. We didn't seem to worry too much when we were out of school an extra week after Christmas break, but when we started to loose more school days than usual, we noticed. When the snow began to melt in the spring, we also missed several days due to flooding.  The melt didn't seem to be an issue at first, but when the temperatures warmed just enough to allow snow to melt and we were still getting precipitation, everyone seemed obsessed with the weather. As if we didn't have enough to worry about with damaged homes and roads, certain parts of the flooded areas had to boil their drinking water. Some of my students were affected by this and it opened discussions about drinking water and conservation. Students understood alot about water due to living in a farming community next to the Snake River, but not many of the kids thought about their drinking water. 

I have always been a person that was aware of my drinking water, or lack of.  I am outdoors alot during the summer and having clean water available is the first thing I think about. I have been in a scary situation where I have been with out clean drinking water on hot day several hours from base camp. My big dumb baby of a dog chewed up my last liter bottle of water back at camp so I just took what was quick and available because my group was leaving with out me.  I didn't realize the huge mistake until my water supply was dwindling down and I was with out close resources. I remember thinking that I could drink from the stream that was close, but we had a previous dog that caught giardia from a similar stream and I didn't know if the risk was going to be worthwhile. I remember thinking that I had put myself in a terrible situation and I had to think about how to get out of it with out becomming heat sick. Luckily I my field partner had the means to boil water and we had enough to get through. I would not want to be in a position ever again to not have clean drinkable water. To me, It is the most important part of our ecosystem service in my watershed area. 

I'll take a turn and ramble, too!

My first day in class (in-person adventurer in Pocatello) also resulted in my mind immediately going to recreation as the main manner in which I intereact and value ecosystem services.  One of my favorite discoveries during my in-person learning week was two unique ways I depend on ecosystem services beyond recreation.  I was diagnosed with a rare autoimmune disease in 2014 which resulted in 50% loss of kidney function (kidney damage in general is permanant damage and the organs do not repair or regenerate).  I am now dependent on a medication and supplements that are nature-derived.  Without provisioning services, my health would not be stable.  I had never considered how my physical health was directly tied to well-cared for ecosystems.  My mother and I are also artists.  I had never considered how our craft and finances are dependent on provisioning services.  Through class I began to mediatate on how every art medium we love is nature-derived:  from clay from the earth for our ceramics, to the bees' wax for our crayons, to the willow tree branches that provide charcoal for drawing, to glass for our blown paperweights, to pine needles from the earth's floor for weaving baskets, from the cotton for our quilting and sewing threads and fabrics, from water that binds our paints, to graphite for sketching pencils, to plants and berries for dyeing fabric, and plant henna for body art...I could go on and on.  Every art medium can be tied to what nature provides.

While in-person learning in Pocatello the first week of June, we discussed the issue of placing monetary value on ecosystem services.  We came away with an important take-a-way.  Not only are all ecosystems related and dependent upon one another, but it is impossible to separate social values from the science.  Economic decisions regarding our environment are explicitly and implicitly based on society's values.  It is an extremely difficult task to justify and set priorities for programs, actions, and policies to protect and restore our ecosystems and their services while balancing how socially each unique individual values services.  We discussed lobbying tactics that can be utilized to get leaders or community members on board when change in interactions with services are necessary.  We discussed a scientific approach using statistcis versus a social and/or moral responsibility approach.  We arrived at the conclusion that most sway is to be had when one can educate and tie ecosystems and their services to someone on a personal level and then attempt to coordinate a cohesive community effort and action with agreed upon social values at the core of the action.  

It would be an interesting cross-curricular study to include economics in a study of ecosystem services.  Students could attempt to place a dollar value on services and argue their perspective.

To address the question of where to start with students:  I teach PE and Photography (art).  For me, it will have to start with vocabulary with my students.  That is where my introduction to ecosystems and their services began.  Once I acquired some basic vocabularly the first couple days in class, I was then able to organize thoughts and feeling and enter in to discussion in a manner that I felt a bit competent. Vocabularly acquisition is what piqued my interest and opened the door for further exploration and discovery.  I am starting there with my non-competitive walking/trekking PE class and also with my cellphone intro photography class, too.

As I began to think about our ecosytem services, I found myself in the same spot as Stephanie. I believe all of them are equally valuable because they work together. I love the outdoors and enjoy camping, hiking, fishing and rafting. It's a blessing to live in Idaho where we have all the those things accessible. Because of my love for these activities, I have adopted the Boy Scout motto, "leave it better than you found it". I'm also a huge proponent of recycling and reusing. 

To answer Stephanie's question: "How would you approach this question with students? How would you help them to understand the importance of all?" 

I teach Choir and Drama. It's diffcult to integrate these concepts into my classroom settings. If I had a science classroom, I would ask students to give examples of ecosystem services (gauging their knowledge level). I would have students brainstorm examples of services and then have them research additional services. Next, students will choose the one in which they are most interested. Students would then present (teach) their fellow students about additional ecosytem services. Finally, they would find an elbow partner and debate/discuss the importance of one service above another. Students would take charge of their own learning through presenting, debating and discussing. 

For the Drama class, students would be placed in small groups to create a skit about a given ecosytem service. They sould use the skills: pantomime/mime, monlogue/dialogue. 

Hi Stephanie,

I enjoyed reading through your thinking process. My mind does similar things when I try to answer a question like this! I am going to say that even though all the ecosystem services are important, I would choose having fresh water if I had to pick the most important. Of course, all the ecosystems provide needed services, but fresh water is central to our everyday lives and I can't imagine being without.

Angela- I liked your idea of starting of a lesson on this topic by asking the same question we answered. I teach language arts and this would be the perfect opportunity to integrate multiple subjects. If I were teaching this to my students I would team up with the science teachers and have them do some background on the ecosystems in Idaho. Then, I would have students bring their infomation into my class and we would either debate the issue or run a Socratic Seminar as a way to discuss the topic. Hopefully the students would come to the same conclusion many of us did, that they are all vital.