Learn more about ecosystem services

Spring is here, and as flowers bloom, it’s a great time to think about the natural environment that makes Sammamish so special. Natural resources such as native species, bodies of water, soil, and open space play an essential role in Sammamish. They provide numerous tangible and intangible benefits called ecosystem services to residents, visitors, neighboring communities, and wildlife. 

Four Types of Ecosystem Services

Provisioning Services - Fruits, vegetables, fish, and livestock are direct products of ecosystems. Along with food, other types of provisioning services include drinking water, raw materials, and medicine.

Regulating Services - Regulating services include pollination, water and air filtration, erosion and flood control, and climate regulation, often from native species. All these processes work together to make ecosystems clean, sustainable, functional, and more resilient to change.

Cultural Services - A cultural service is a non-material benefit that contributes to the development and advancement of people and cultures; the building of knowledge and spreading of ideas; creativity from interactions with nature (music and art); and recreation.

Supporting Services - Ecosystems and humans are sustained by underlying natural processes, such as photosynthesis, nutrient cycling, the creation of soils, and the water cycle.

By making decisions that positively impact the health of our ecosystems and community, we can work together to support the environment that supports us.