Conservation Planning
Defenders of Wildlife strongly advocates for improved prioritization and cooperation in conservation efforts. Some places and species have a greater need for protection than others.
Conservation planning uses the best available science to identify which species and habitats to target and which parts of the landscape are the most important. Identifying these conservation priorities helps different government agencies and non-governmental organizations work together towards a common goal.
Benefits of Conservation Planning
- Identify a common set of goals and priorities
- Avoid haphazard conservation
- Reduce habitat fragmentation and isolation.
- Inform land use and transportation planning efforts
- Provide communities with a conservation vision
- Help alleviate conflicts by involving all stakeholders, building consensus, and providing predictability
What is a Conservation Plan?
Conservation plans vary dramatically in their scale, approach, and format. However, all conservation plans contain most of the following information:
- Goals or visions for conservation
- Lists of priority or target species and habitat types, often including mapped locations
- Maps of conservation opportunity areas or other ecologically significant places on the landscape
- A discussion of threats to wildlife
- Conservation actions to address these threats
- A monitoring strategy to evaluate the effectiveness of the plan
Conservation planning has traditionally focused on individual species - most often endangered or game species. Over the last decade government agencies and private organizations have started shifting to conservation planning that focuses on all species and their habitats. This approach attempts to protect whole ecosystems rather than individual pieces of the system in isolation. While there are species that need special attention, an ecosystem approach provides a comprehensive look at conservation needs.
Defenders of Wildlife has developed a Conservation Planning Primer that explains the conservation planning process.
Examples of Conservation Planning
Defenders of Wildlife helped conservation planning leap forward by advocating for the creation of the State & Tribal Wildlife Grants Program which required the states to complete comprehensive wildlife conservation plans. In 2005 all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and all U.S. territories completed what are commonly referred to as State Wildlife Action Plans as part of the State Wildlife Grants Program.
Not all conservation plans focus exclusively on biodiversity protection. Increasingly, communities recognize the importance of protecting “green infrastructure,” or land and water resources that provide vital community services such as water purification (wetlands and riparian vegetation) and carbon sequestration (forests and grasslands). Biodiversity values can be easily incorporated into these more holistic planning efforts, increasing their value substantially.
Many different agencies and organizations use conservation plans to guide their actions.
