​Ecosystem Services

RAY ENTZ, Director of Wildlife and Terrestrial Resources for the Kalispel Tribe of Indians, has 30+ years of local experience in maintaining ecosystem services for the benefit of generations of Tribal members. His understanding and viewpoints incorporate the knowledge of aboriginal people who lived on the land for millennia.
 
Ray lays out two pathways to explain ecosystem services. The first is an introductory essay in print titled ECOSYSTEM SERVICES: NO SUCH THING AS A FREE LUNCH!. The term "ecosystem services" refers to the benefits that humans derive from functioning ecosystems. Modern scientists have summarized those into at least four categories of natural benefit. "Provisioning" services include water, food, or materials. "Controlling" benefits might retain sediment or allow pollination. "Supporting" services provide nutrient cycling or refugia. And "cultural" benefits could be recreation, knowledge, or spiritual satisfaction. To read Ray's essay, follow this link.

The second pathway is a follow-up February 10, 2022 virtual presentation titled ECOSYSTEM SERVICES: THE FREE LUNCH THEORY. Ray's narrative and imagery begins with how ecosystem services fed, clothed, sheltered, and enriched the indigenous people of our area. They found many of life's necessities within 2.3 million acres along the Pend Oreille River and neighboring periphery. Their environment of today has changed in positive, negative, and unnatural ways that require the Tribe to use modern and ancient strategies to prosper. Here is a link to Ray's entertaining YouTube .