People in the surrounding region depend on the ecosystem services, such as clean water and recreation, provided by the National Forest.  These services are regulated both by the ecology of the forest and surrounding region, and by the laws, regulations, and private actions and decisions of people at the federal, commonwealth, and local level.  Managing ecosystem services and planning for their sustainability requires developing approaches to understand and integrate the ecology and ecosystems services, people’s perceptions of ecological services, and the decision making process of stakeholders that affect these services.  This proposed project would develop an approach that integrates attributes of the landscape with stakeholder perceptions about ecosystem services to provide a better understanding of the interrelations between ecosystem services, land uses, and people’s perceptions and actions influencing the services provided by El Yunque National Forest.  This project will help improve National Forest management planning in Puerto Rico and develop an approach for determining the suitability of land uses around El Yunque. Ultimately we expect that this project will help to conserve ecosystem services and benefits provided by El Yunque and surrounding lands, and will become an approach that is adaptable for use by other national forests.

This study is conducted through a partnership between SRS-4952 and the University of Puerto Rico. The principal investigator is Dr. Tania Lopez.