A scale dynamics approach to integrate landscape conservation within and across jurisdictional boundaries

Context Public-private partnerships are needed to conserve landscapes, waterscapes, and seascapes. Landscape conservation design (LCD) translates shared objectives into spatial priorities to guide conservation efforts and foster collaboration among partners at the landscape level. Objective We examined LCD projects in the eastern United States to identify implementation and coordination challenges and propose solutions that facilitate integration across projects in instances when coordination and continuity of conservation efforts is paramount. Methods We apply a scale dynamics approach to LCD that identifies what conservation actions to take (goals scale), how to conduct those actions (implementation scale), and where to take those actions (spatial scale) to benefit species and ecosystems (ecological scale). Additional steps include identify who (jurisdiction scale) will take those actions and when (threats scale) those actions should be taken. Results We found that although LCD projects span ecological, spatial, temporal, and jurisdictional scales, focusing only on spatial or ecological scales resulted in poor integration among adjacent projects when few species or ecosystems were the target of more than one LCD project. Conclusions Variation in approach among LCD projects poses a challenge to project coordination and project integration with existing conservation planning efforts and products. This challenge exists within and across jurisdictional boundaries. The scale dynamics approach provides a trans-project basis for integration across multiple LCD projects.

Automated summary

Public-private partnerships are crucial for landscape conservation design (LCD), which aims to guide conservation efforts and foster collaboration among partners. However, variation in approach among LCD projects poses challenges to project coordination and integration, especially when few species or ecosystems are targeted by multiple projects.