Journal of Ecosystem & Ecography
Open Access

Abstract

Natural landscapes and organisms serve our wellbeing in a great variety of ways like water purification, flood protection, recreation, recharging of aquifers, protection from damage by hurricanes and tropical storms, pollution reduction, carbon sequestration and more. The Greater Houston region, which encompasses a huge and diverse assemblage of forests, prairies, bottomlands, wetlands and bays receives a tremendous amount of benefits (ecosystem services) from the ecological functions of the natural world. This policy paper explores the ways in which various entities in the Greater Houston region are working to identify and better understand the services provided by urban riparian, upland and coastal ecosystems that traverse this region. In the paper, we discuss the recent urban riparian and other ecosystem successes in enhancing and/or restoring ecosystem services to solve infrastructural needs, often at a lower cost than traditional solutions. With examples provided, we find that the outcome is often even better than the initial cost saving assessments which reflect that solving a problem using ecosystem services by preserving or restoring an entire or even partial ecosystem can produce a whole host of ecosystem services in addition to the single service needed to accomplish the function of the infrastructure. We look closely at a defining aspect of the urban core of Houston and the extended Houston Region � its myriad of connecting bayou and creek systems. Creeks and bayous play an integral role in flood protection, air and water quality and wildlife habitat for the region and are prime examples of ways that ecosystem services can be added or enhanced and more effectively benefit everyone by providing more aesthetic and environmental benefits than structural alterations. We then access the importance of integrating the value and benefits of ecosystem services into mainstream policy decision-making, providing policy makers with more tools to make mutually beneficial decisions regarding the region�s most pressing economic and environmental issues and recommend ways to accomplish these goals.

Biography

Email: deborah@houstonwilderness.org