Acknowledgments: Data analysis and quality assurance of data provided by Research Assistants Catherine Cummings, Gregory Johnson, Danielle Oates, Vincent Rivers, Trinity Russo, Caroline Ward, Jordan Windham

What Are Ecosystem Services?

Just after my fifth birthday, my father took me fishing for the first time. He set my tiny Mickey Mouse fishing rod on the dock and did his best to explain to me the fundamentals of freshwater fishing. Hooks, bobbers and bait were the subjects at hand. It seemed very complicated, but I eagerly nodded my head as though I understood the lessons he was teaching me. I was certainly more interested in the excitement of pulling a live fish from the depths than learning the techniques needed to accomplish this feat.

He showed me how to carefully put a worm on the hook, and I was ready to go. I dropped the line in the water and expected a quick bite. Nothing. The minutes crept by, and it seemed the fish had much less interest than I did. My attention span waned as I sat waiting for something to bite. I began to look around. I heard the water lapping against the dock. The birds calling to one another from the shrubs and trees lining the pond. I smelled the warm Alabama breeze and admired the clouds lazily drifting overhead. There was so much happening, and yet nothing was happening all at once. As the morning turned to afternoon, it was obvious that the fish were not interested in our bait, and we left the pond without catching a thing.

While it's true that we weren't able to get a fish, all was not lost. Something else had stirred in my young mind. For the first time in my life, I felt connected to something more. I was only a tiny piece of something greater, something far more connected than I could comprehend at the time. Even though we didn't catch anything, I wanted more. I found value in the connectedness and the beauty of the Alabama ecosystem. I felt like a fisherman. I will always fondly remember this morning on the dock with my father as the first time I truly felt like I had an identity beyond that of a child.