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published in the 2002 State of the Nation’s Ecosystems Report as well as the 2003 and 2005 Web-Only Updates have been superseded by the 2008 Report and thus should be used with caution.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.

This report would not have been possible without the support, encouragement, and patience of many, many individuals and institutions.

We would like to name—and thank—the many individuals who have assisted in some way, but we cannot. Besides those who participated as members of one of our many committees (and who are named on the participants pages), there are literally hundreds who have contributed time and expertise, including many who work within our partner organizations, but with whom we have not worked directly.

We are also deeply grateful to the nearly 100 reviewers who commented on the draft of this report; your insightful contributions helped us immensely, and your names are listed on our Web site (external reviewers page). Any list would inevitably miss someone, so, rather than provide an incomplete list, we offer our sincere thanks to each and every one of you—you know who you are!

Funding for this project was also provided by a diverse array of sources. We would like to thank our corporate and foundation funders: Chevron Company, Cleveland Foundation Special Fund No. 6, Foundation for Environmental Research, John Deere & Company, Electric Power Research Institute, Georgia-Pacific Corporation, Vira I. Heinz Foundation, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Richard King Mellon Foundation, Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Procter & Gamble Company, and Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines.

We would also like to thank the federal agencies that provided financial support: the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Defense, the Department of Energy, the Department of the Interior, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the National Science Foundation. The Office of Naval Research also provided grants administration support, for which we are grateful.

We worked with a host of public and private institutions in preparing this report. They provided data, enabled their staff to serve on committees, assisted with reviews, and made any number of other valuable contributions. We are deeply grateful for their help and support. There were, however, several institutions whose assistance went well beyond the norm: the U.S. Geological Survey, the USDA Forest Service, and NatureServe (which was a part of the Nature Conservancy when this project began) all provided insight, information, and expertise in amounts beyond what we could have asked for.

We are also grateful to Cynthia Cliff and James Durham of Janin/Cliff Design, Inc., for their skill, insight and patience—this volume would not be what it is without them.

Finally, we thank the members of The Heinz Center Board of Trustees, without whose support this project would not have come to fruition, and all of our present and former colleagues at The Heinz Center, whose patience and pitching in made it all possible.