ASSESSING GEOLOGIC ECOSYSTEM SERVICES IN THE BLACK HILLS OF SOUTH DAKOTA AND WYOMING: A PRELIMINARY APPROACH

The ecosystem services approach seeks to recognize the benefits that people obtain from ecosystems, to highlight society’s dependence on natural systems. Ecosystem services fall into four categories: provisioning, regulating, cultural, and supporting services. Most of the ecosystem services literature is focused on services that arise from biotic components of ecosystems. Ecosystems are dynamic complexes of biotic communities and their physical, non-living environment, interacting as a functional unit. The emphasis on biotic ecosystem services leaves understudied the role that the abiotic, physical environment plays, including geologic ecosystem services. It is important to recognize the services provided by both the biotic and abiotic components of ecosystems to ensure that ecosystems are sustainably managed. Geologic ecosystem services have been the focus of some research internationally, but are little studied in the U.S.

This study is cataloging geologic ecosystem services in the Black Hills of western South Dakota and northeastern Wyoming. The Black Hills region is characterized by greater lithologic diversity, more complex structure, and greater geomorphological variability than adjacent physiographic provinces, and is thus an outstanding study area to assess the role of geodiversity in producing geologic ecosystem services. Also, the Black Hills area has been historically important for mineral extraction, and the area is today of substantial recreational and spiritual importance to society.

In cataloging geologic ecosystem services in the Black Hills, we will also consider several different ways to classify these services, including the Common International Classification of Ecosystem Services (CICES) and schemes that are more focused on geologic ecosystem services (e.g., Gray et al., 2013, Proceedings of the Geologists’ Association, v. 124, p. 659-673). This study will also assess the vulnerability of geodiversity elements to impacts by society (including climate change) as well as the vulnerability of geologic ecosystem services to such impacts.