The lost narrative: Ecosystem service narratives and the missing Wasatch watershed conservation story

Salt Lake City's preservation of the Wasatch watershed as its water source is an important historical example of the economic and instrumental rationale for investing in ecosystem services in general and protecting watersheds in particular. This story predates the dominant example of New York City's preservation of the Catskills that is prevalent in the ecosystem services literature, yet is largely absent from the historical and contemporary academic and gray literature on valuing ecosystem services. While the Catskills example has been used to provide the impetus for wider replication of “Payments for Ecosystem Services” (PES) and other market-based approaches to manage the needs of multiple stakeholders in watershed and additional environmental contexts, the legitimacy of this example for justifying an instrumental and economic rationale for conserving nature has been shown to be flawed. This paper considers the limitations of the Catskills as an illustrative example of the economic benefit of valuing ecosystem services, and proposes the story of the preservation of the Wasatch watershed as an alternative success story that uses regulatory instruments and zoning to protect an urban water supply while simultaneously serving the recreational and other needs of stakeholders in the area.