Although the US Department of Agriculture's 2005 public commitment to use market-based incentives for environmental stewardship and cooperative conservation focused land managers' attention on the concept of ecosystem goods and services (EGS), this was not a new idea. Much earlier in the 20th century, Aldo Leopold embraced the value of open space, calling for preservation of New Mexico's Gila Wilderness Area and later urging Americans to espouse a "land ethic" that recognized the unique contributionsof wildlands and agricultural landscapes to the American ethos. Theodore Roosevelt preserved millions of acres of the American West as national forests and monuments, to provide the greatest good for the greatest number of people with these reserves asa constant source of valuable production commodities—in today's jargon, ecosystem goods and services.
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