Tuesday, March 12, 2013Welcome to Tuesdays at APA-DC!

____________________________Supporting ConservationAs a Land Use_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Speaker: Leslie Honey Vice President of Conservation Services

NatureServe

[ ]SUPPORTING CONSERVATION AS A LAND USE

March 12, 2013Tuesdays at APA

Themes

• What do we mean by Conservation?

• What are the challenges

• Conservation as a land use and role for planners

• How can planners better integrate conservation?

• Some examples and new directions

What do we mean by Conservation?

• Technically this means:– Retaining a sustainable amount of area of “conservation

elements”– In viable occurrence sizes– In a compatible land use context

• Not just species or habitat but can include ecosystem processes and services, connectivity, future climate refugia, etc. including resource dependent land uses

• Not necessarily strict “bioreserves” other land uses can support certain species and ecosystem processes

• Also increasingly includes restoring areas

Where does biodiversity occur

Challenges

• The usual suspects: habitat conversion to other uses, fragmentation, pollution

• Climate change is already impacting biodiversity

increasing the need for large, intact areas and good connectivity to allow species to adapt

Courtesy of Dave Theobald

Courtesy of Dave Theobald

Courtesy of Dave Theobald

Courtesy of Dave Theobald

[ ]

Climate effects including range shift of species

Conservation is a land use

How does conservation function as a land use?

• It provides for the public welfare like any other land use

• It provides economic and cultural values– Ecosystem services worth $$$– Direct economic services—hunting, recreation– Increased neighboring property values and property tax

income with much lower service costs– Amenity value attracting businesses and residents– Increasingly tangible physical and mental health benefits

Common Misconceptions

• Conservation is what happens when other needs are satisfied

• A land trust would have bought it if it was important

• Conservation is taken care of by state regulators (or it only matters if it is a regulated feature/species)

What is unique about a conservation land use?

• It is generally not transportable/convertible• The values driving conservation are

dependent on many site variables, much more so than any other land use

• In other words, we have to conserve it where we find it

• Reconstructing/restoring conservation values is vastly more expensive than saving them and with far less success

A conceptual framework to integrate conservation planning

• Treating conservation as a land use requires integration, but there will be conflicts with other uses

• The key to rectifying conflicts among uses is to reveal where uses must occur and what is the envelope of options where they can occur

• Collaborative planning will allow testing of options that identify where the objectives of each sector can be met without foreclosing the ability of any one to be met

Rare plant population

Regional habitat connection

Prime ag soils

Regional hwy corridor

Infrastructure servedEconomic devpmt area

Forest of sufficient size for interior bird species

Envelope of options

So, how do we integrate conservation into

planning?

Integrated Public/Institutional Processes

Integrated Public/Institutional Processes

Planning Phase: The Funnel vs Collaboration?

Needs– Political will– Agency

commitment

–$$Infrastructure Planning

Land Use Planning

Conservation Planning

Species Data Infrastructure Historic

sites

Ag landsScenic views

Land Use Planner

Key Concepts of Systematic Conservation Planning

Element/target based approach instead of place based ◦ Can provide some flexibility in where conservation goals are

met Seeks to meet quantitative goals for elements

◦ You know your gaps—how much more is needed, potential locations, and when you are done

Matches appropriate land use and management to element sensitivities◦ It is not a strict reserve oriented approach◦ Increases flexibility for land use

Increasingly uses optimization tools/approaches◦ Minimizes the conservation footprint◦ Avoids conflicts with development as much as possible

•WHAT IS THE PLANNING AREA?

•WHERE ARE THEY?

• WHAT ARE CURRENT CONDITIONS?

• WHAT ARE DESIRED CONDITIONS?

• HOW SHOULD CONFLICTS BE MITIGATED?

• WHERE DO WE HAVE CONFLICTS WITH CONSERVATION GOALS?

•WHAT FEATURES ARE OF CONSERVATION CONSIDERATION?

• HOW WILL WE MEASURE OUR PROGRESS?

• WHAT ARE THE TRENDS IN THOSE CONDITIONS?

Common Questions in Conservation Planning

Reducing conflicts

Sites meeting biodiversity goals

Sites meeting forestry/agricultural use goals

Potential conflict zones

The Role for Tools

Definition & roles

What do we mean by tools?

A software system that:

• Helps you do a specific activity without reinventing the wheel

• Makes your work more efficient

• Adds documentation and repeatability so more defensible

• But should not get in the way

• Primarily I’m talking about tools that work with spatial information

What might tools help us do?

• Obtain, document, integrate stakeholder input

• Get data into analyses more easily

• Perform increasingly complex analyses in repeatable, documented ways

• Generate reports, maps, and other visualizations easily

• Replace some of the need for live expertise with knowledge bases and models so information can be readily reused

• Integrate data and analyses among disciplines, sectors, and across domains

• Increase ability to collaborate with other organizations & across sectors

What tools can’t do

• Replace a lack of planning knowledge and clear goals and objectives– Make a GIS analyst into a planner– Make you an expert in whatever a tool

does• Reveal more than what is inherently in

the data• Convince people that do not want to be

Survey of US Land Use PlannersSurvey of US Land Use Planners

Webinar USFS, APA, Clemson University Study Ryan Scherzinger

Supporting Collaborative Planning Through Toolkits

• Planning projects have diverse needs and issues

• Generally not a single, one-size-fits-all tool available

• Still, there are many tools that can address parts of your needs, SO….

I built my toolkit in just one weekend!

Linking groups of tools through an interactive process gives the flexibility to address an almost unlimited number of issues, with existing tools.

Simple Toolkit Structure

Integration

Tool

Development Tools

-Planning-Energy

-Infrastructure-Forestry

Data and Modeling

Tools-Geophysical

Processes-Ecosystem Processes

-Socioeconomic models

-Biodiversity-Ecosystem Svcs

Conservation Planning Tools

-Mitigation-Land Allocation/Optimization

Planning Process/Stakeholder Engagement

A Methodology and Decision Support System for Integrated Conservation Planning

On the land, in the water, anywhere on the globe

Vista Key Functions and Purposes•Facilitates many common planning processes with focus on conservation•From information gathering through analyses and development of alternatives•Brings powerful GIS to non-experts but integrates expert knowledge and models•Conservation focused but integrates multiple values and objectives

Framework Integration

ToolNatureServe

Vista

Biodiversity ToolsMapping and Distribution Modeling Tools – e.g., See5,

MaxEnt

Ecological Process Tools Habitat Priority

Planner, CircuitScape, VDDT

Geophysical Process ToolsN-SPECT, Climate Predictions Climate Predictions ModelsModels

Ecosystem Services InVEST

Data & Modeling Tools

Land Allocation/ Optimization ToolsMarxan, Zonation, C-PlanZonation, C-Plan

Conservation & Mitigation Tools

Mitigation PlanningVista Site Explorer, Mitigation Query Tool

Expert Assessment ToolsClimate Change Vulnerability IndexStructured Decision MakingClimate Expert Workshops

Vulnerability Assessment Tools

Energy and Infrastructure Planning Tools QuantM

“Development” Planning Tools

Land Use Planning Tools CommunityViz

Forestry Tools

Data Portals & Exploration

Landscope, DataBasin, Atlas, etc.

Info Exchange Tools

NatureServe Vista Toolkit “family”

®

A project of

Promoting informed, collaborative and equitable decision making since 2001.

In partnership with

An extension for ArcGIS®

Thousands of users in North America and 40 other countries

Fully supported; commercial quality

9 new versions since 2001

Used by non-profits, for profits, landowners, and all levels of government

Taught at dozens of universities

Retail prices from $379 - $850

Dynamic Charts

Interactive Controls

Multiple Scenarios

Intuitive Interface

Fly-through 3D

Analysis Wizards

Planning Tool Interoperability Demonstration

Colorado

El Paso

Pueblo

Data is exchanged

Data is exchanged

Data is

exchan

ged

Build common land use classification scheme for Vista and CommunityViz 1

CommunityViz uses land use classification to run growth model and sends outcome to Vista 2

Vista analyzes impact of growth models on conservation elements 4

Vista creates mitigations to preserve key conservation elements 5

CommunityViz receives mitigations from Vista and analyzes growth impact from conservation mitigations 6

Pikes Peak & Pueblo COGs: Iterative Analytical Process

Baseline vs. Business As Usual: CommunityViz

Import Scenarios into Vista

Evaluate Scenarios in Vista

No conservation elements present

Elements present; goals met

One or more elements present; goals unmet

Site Explorer Mitigation

Select alternate land use and policy/funding implementation mechanism and save shapefile result

Select alternate land use and policy/funding implementation mechanism and save shapefile result

Integrate Mitigation Parcels & Scenario

• Simple process:– Incorporate mitigation shapefile into Vista scenario and re-

evaluate to confirm desired results– Export to CommunityViz to evaluate socioeconomic

outcomes– Conduct further iterations to reach desired multiple

objectives

That sounds complicated, how can planners get

help?Partnerships

Intermediaries

Service providers

[ ]EXAMPLE EXAMPLE INTERMEDIARY INTERMEDIARY NGO IN A RURAL, NGO IN A RURAL, LOW CAPACITY LOW CAPACITY REGIONREGION

What about where you work?

• A recent USFS study found many local governments rely on local land trusts

• Natl/Internatl NGOs might be able to partner– Audubon, Ducks Unlimited, NatureServe, TNC, WCS

• NatureServe and its state-based network members can provide:– Data on ecosystems and rare and imperiled species and

communities– Expert biological and ecological knowledge– Mapping and assessment– Conservation and multi-objective planning and decision

support

Conclusions• Conservation is a land use supporting public values, not

what is regulated or left over after other goals are met

• Systematic conservation planning is a defensible method of achieving measurable conservation goals

• Integrating conservation as a land use in land use plans can be facilitated by interoperating land use and conservation planning support tools

• Integration requires collaboration among agencies, NGOs and other stakeholders, and science and conservation experts

Questions?

• Some URLs and contacts

– www.natureserve.org--conservation planning

– www.natureserve.org/vista--free DSS– patrick_crist@natureserve.org--Director

of conservation planning

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