The US needs a sustained national assessment of biodiversity and ecosystem services: see Steve Jackson et al. in today's Science, http://science.sciencemag.org/content/354/6314/838.summary, and ESA's Ecotone blog at http://www.esa.org/esablog/ecology-in-policy/usa-needs-national-ecosystem-assessment/ -- "The election results last week may affect the direction and focus of U.S. environmental policy, but they do not alter the need for the United States to responsibly manage its public lands and natural resources. Now more than ever we need to place as much importance on monitoring biodiversity and ecosystem services as we do on monitoring the economic and public health of the nation."
