Ecosystem Services Approach to Public Facility Planning

For the City of Damascus, Oregon incorporated in 2004, achieving sustainability includes balancing the preservation of natural capital and ecological services with provision of public facilities and services to support new development. This rural, forested and agricultural rich City is set among volcanic buttes and a network of perennial and ephemeral streams and riparian corridors tributary to the Clackamas River. Current residents value the diversity of the natural landscape for its scenic beauty as well as for its contributions to biodiversity, clean water, clean air, and the rural character of the area, as well as for the opportunities for income from use of their lands from timber sales and agricultural endeavors. These agricultural endeavors range from organic vegetable farms to Christmas tree lots. Inclusion of this area into the Urban Growth Boundary (UGB) in 2002 dramatically changed the land use regulations that had previously protected the forest and agricultural uses and opened the door to more intensive residential and commercial development. The focus of this paper is on the conceptual approach to identifying, assessing, and valuing ecosystem services; and on the development of approaches for managing natural capital to provide valued ecological services.