This Essay, based on my presentation at Duke Law School's 2009 symposium, Next Generation Conservation: The Government's Role in Emerging Ecosystem Service Markets, briefly examines this emerging policy front and proposes a set of key policy questions, research needs, and options for building on the policy work that has been done to date. Part I outlines the basic context for thinking about the role federal public lands might play in the management of ecosystem services, and why using the ecosystem services concept in public land policy is worth considering. Part II proposes several key research paths that must be addressed before federal lands can be managed effectively for ecosystem service flows. Part III bears down on the different roles federal lands might play in promoting or participating in markets for ecosystem services. My goal is not to propose any particular policy for federal lands and ecosystem services, but rather to suggest how federal public land management agencies should go about formulating and implementing such policies. Who knows, someday the cry might be "there's ecosystem services in them thar hills," in which case the federal government should have a plan for how we get to them.