Washington DNR Ecosystem Services Inventory and Asset Plan

Washington's public lands encompass forests, aquatic areas, and uplands. Photo: Erin Inclán

Evaluating ecosystem service market opportunities across 5.6 million acres of Washington State trust lands

Washington manages 5.6 million acres of trust lands, aquatic lands, and natural areas. These lands provide ecosystem services — timber, clean air and water, wildlife habitat, and recreation — while funding schools and services. The state needed to understand how these lands could generate revenue while advancing climate and conservation goals.

In 2023, the Legislature directed the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to develop an ecosystem services inventory and asset plan. DNR retained Greene Economics to identify emerging ecosystem service markets and prioritize near-term opportunities.

Our team mapped DNR-managed lands to create a geospatial inventory of forests, aquatic areas, and uplands with land use and forest type data. We evaluated eight ecosystem service markets — including forest carbon, avoided wildfire emissions, water quantity, blue carbon, and biodiversity credits — and developed a market-alignment tool to rank opportunities by cost, revenue potential, and readiness. For forest carbon, we applied a Marginal Abatement Cost Curve (MACC) to compare strategies such as delayed harvest, improved forest management, and reforestation, assessing tradeoffs and potential credit generation.

Our analysis identified near-term opportunities in forest carbon, avoided wildfire emissions, and water quantity, while other markets — including blue carbon and biodiversity — are emerging and contingent on policy development.

The inventory and asset plan enables DNR to pursue revenue from ecosystem service markets while meeting its obligations to trust beneficiaries and the broader public — with a framework to adapt as markets mature.