The objective of this limited-scope Statement of Need was to initiate an analysis of the relationship of natural capital and ecosystem services delivered though the management of Department of Defense (DoD) test and training lands and the associated benefits that accrue to the DoD, the broader ecosystem, and society at large.

Specific research objectives included the following:

• Definition of the appropriate boundaries and scale to support the analysis, functional definition of services provided, and delineation of the biological, physical and chemical services provided to include natural and nature-based features that provide benefit.
• Understanding of cumulative effects, feedbacks and compensatory behavior of systems dealing with lags in the development of impacts, benefits and value, especially as related to management of natural ecosystems and biological diversity.
• Examination of models that incorporate economic concepts and that may improve decision-making that balances training requirements, land stewardship, costs, legal drivers, and coordination beyond installation boundaries, even in cases where the benefits cannot be monetized.

Limited-scope proposals were sought to develop proof of concept or conceptual approaches to the analysis of the relationship of natural capital and ecosystem services on lands managed for defense purposes. Proposers were asked to specifically state the rationale for their analytic research approach, describe their understating of current practice, and explain how their analytic conceptualization would result in new insight into the relationship of ecosystem services and natural capital associated with the management of DoD lands.

Funded projects will appear below as project overviews are posted to the website.