This prototype Report contains three major sections, each focusing on one ecosystem type: croplands, forests, or coasts & oceans. The first full Report, due in 2001, will include these three systems plus freshwater systems, urban/suburban areas, and arid/grasslands (rangelands). In this edition of the report, we have also included sections on Demographics and Air Quality, which are linked to the navigation bar at the bottom of the page.

Each major section contains 11 segments. Each of these segments focuses on a single major ecosystem good, service, or property. Each describes the reporting measures; the current state of this good, service, or property; and the availability of information. Each graphic is linked to its background information, called the technical notes. The technical notes describe each measure, the data used in reporting, any relevant cautions, and where to access the underlying data

Croplands includes lands used for row crops, grains, hay, nursery crops, orchards, and specialty crops; and the lands between and among these cropped fields—fencerows, woodlots, and buffer strips. Animal production is included, but rangelands are not. As a complex, these lands are often referred to as the cropland landscape; that is, the focus includes more than cropped fields.

Forests are defined by the Forest Service as lands at least 10 percent covered by trees of any size. Depending on whether data are collected by ground surveys or remote sensing, the smallest area to be defined as forest will differ; national-scale maps identify forest areas at least one-half mile on a side, whereas ground surveys and newer remote sensing methods are often more sensitive.

Coasts & Oceans are estuaries and coastal and marine waters and immediately adjacent lands, including beaches, wetlands, and tideflats. The Great Lakes are part of this system. This category does not include the larger "coastal zone," which encompasses areas that drain to, or otherwise affect, coastal waters.

Definitions for the remaining three systems will be included in the full Report in 2001.

This Report uses 12 ecosystem goods, services, or properties (referred to here as properties) to describe each ecosystem. Measures are the specific variables to be reported for each property. For example, recreation is one of the 12 major properties, and visitor-days is a measure used to report on it.

These properties were selected to describe the use and condition of ecosystems. Taken together, the 12 properties describe three broad aspects of each system:

* the amount and configuration of the system—the system dimensions;

* how people use the system, including activities such as food and fiber production and recreation—human uses; and

* the status of plants and animals, the movement of chemicals, and similar * ecosystem properties—the ecosystem condition.

The general relationship between the 12 properties and these three broad aspects of a system are illustrated below: