Note that the data published in the 2002 State of the Nation’s Ecosystems Report as well as the 2003 and 2005 Web-Only Updates have been superseded by the 2008 Report and thus should be used with caution. For the most recent data, purchase the 2008 Report from Island Press.

Despite the substantial donations of time and talent from the groups already described, this report would not have been possible without substantial financial support from more than twenty federal, private, and philanthropic sources. These funders are named—and thanked—in the acknowledgements, and we would like to add our grateful appreciation for their support.

The work of defining an overall indicator system, applying it to specific ecosystems, and identifying and evaluating candidate data sets fell largely on the backs of the Design Committee and Work Groups convened by the Heinz Center. These individuals—nearly 150 in all—are listed in the participants pages. To a person, they took part with enthusiasm, openness, creativity, and dedication.

Oversight and review of the work of the Design Committee and Working Groups were provided at two levels. Strategically, the balance and relevance of the overall reporting effort was reviewed periodically by a small group of senior advisors and the Heinz Center Board of Trustees. Quality assurance on more specific aspects of the report was provided through a rigorous process of peer review, involving nearly 100 experts from all four sectors (these reviewers are listed on the Heinz Center’s Web site, www.heinzctr.org/ecosystems).

At the Heinz Center itself, our first thanks go to the first president of the Center, Bill Merrell. Bill’s leadership of the Center in its formative years made a reality of the multisector, nonpartisan, sciencebased principles on which it was founded. He was instrumental in seeing “environmental reporting” as a key area for enhancing the contribution of science and economics to policy, in conceptualizing the present effort, in recruiting those who have led it over the past 5 years, and in putting together the broadly based funding package that has supported it.

On the Heinz Center staff, a wonderfully creative, adaptable, and dedicated group of professionals herded the multiple cats of the State of the Nation’s Ecosystems project to produce an integrated product. Robert M. Friedman, the Center’s Vice President for Research, guided the overall effort with a light hand and a keen, insightful mind. Kent Cavender-Bares, Research Associate and analyst par excellence, served as the project’s nerve center for data analysis and presentation and contributed in countless ways to every aspect of the report. Jeannette L. Aspden, the Center’s Research Editor, exhibited true flexibility and creativity in ensuring that the final product was of excellent quality and consistency, despite having been written in literally hundreds of separate pieces over several years. And Elissette Rivera, Kate Wing, and Heather Blough, Research Assistants, provided technical, logistical, and administrative support for the project, without which the data needed to produce this report would not have been obtained or analyzed, the meetings needed to reach agreement on what indicators were appropriate would not have been held, and the myriad other necessary details would not have been attended to. These individuals were aided in their work by the frequent and cheerful efforts of—at one point or another—every member of the Heinz Center staff, all of whom pitched in at critical points to lighten the load.

Finally, however, we must single out for thanks Robin O’Malley, the Project Manager of the State of the Nation’s Ecosystems project. He has been a consummate project manager, keeping an immensely complicated and dynamic process running on time with a reasonable degree of synchrony; alternately prodding, chiding, and soothing multiple contesting egos; writing not only the text that he promised, but also the text that others promised but forgot to complete; and delivering an uncounted number of ever-better briefings. Beyond these impressive managerial accomplishments, however, Robin has also played a central role in shaping the structure and content of this report, coming up with original analytical approaches, prescient criticism and comments, and original syntheses. He has, in fact, emerged as one of the nation’s foremost experts on the state of the nation’s ecosystems. It has been an honor and a pleasure to work with him in creating this report.