Introduction to the Natural Capital Approach and InVEST Toolkit
September 24, 2014
University of Washington, Seattle Campus

Mapping and modeling ecosystem services can help uncover hidden costs and benefits of different natural resource management options. InVEST is a free decision-support tool developed by the Natural Capital Project (NatCap, www.naturalcapitalproject.org) that produces spatially explicit information to improve the relationship between humans and the ecosystems on which we depend.

NatCap, in collaboration with the University of Washington's Department of Geography, Master of GIS for Sustainability Management Program (MGIS), is pleased to offer a one day course at the UW campus on Wednesday, September 24th. We will introduce approaches and tools we’ve developed to bring information about nature's value to people into decisions. There will also be a "hands-on" component using InVEST and GIS software. While there are no prerequisites for this introductory course, we recommend taking our free online class (ncp101.class.stanford.edu) which provides a useful overview of concepts we will cover throughout the day.

Agenda in Brief (see Link to Agenda PDF here):

• 9:00-9:30   Introductions, goals and expectations for the course (Erin and Henry)
• 9:30-10:00   Introduction to the Natural Capital Project’s approach: Using ecosystem service information in decisions (Anne)
• 10:00-10:45   An introduction to InVEST and new marine spatial planning toolkit (including time for questions) (Spencer and Gregg)
• 10:45-11:15   Demonstrations running InVEST including the overlap analysis tool and nutrient retention model (Dave and Gregg)
• 11:15-11:30   Coffee break / refreshments
• 11:30-12:00   Demonstration with sample data (including time for questions and discussion)
• 12:00-12:30   Specific questions about applicability of InVEST to participants’ own contexts
• 12:30-13:30   Lunch break
• 13:30-14:30   Firehose introducing four InVEST models used in Belize application
• 1. Habitat Risk Assessment for corals, mangroves, and seagrasses (Katherine)
• 2. Fisheries Production (Anne)
• 3. Recreation and Tourism (Spencer)
• 4. Coastal Vulnerability and Erosion Protection (Gregg)
• 14:30-15:00   Introduction to coastal Belize case study: “Putting InVEST in Practice” (Gregg)
• 15:00-15:15   Coffee break / refreshments
• 15:15-17:00   Group work on Belize exercise and side discussion about NatCap’s current applications in Canada and New England (in the context of renewable energy, fisheries, and scenic quality)
• 17:00-17:15     Evaluation survey and close

Hope to see you there!