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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2016. A Review of the Landscape Conservation Cooperatives. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/21829.
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A Review of the Landscape
Conservation Cooperatives

Committee on the Evaluation of the Landscape Conservation Cooperatives

Board on Atmospheric Sciences and Climate

Board on Agriculture and Natural Resources

Division on Earth and Life Studies

images

THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS
Washington, DC
www.nap.edu

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2016. A Review of the Landscape Conservation Cooperatives. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/21829.
×

THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS 500 Fifth Street, NW Washington, DC 20001

This activity was supported by Contract No. F14PC00112 from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of any organization or agency that provided support for the project.

International Standard Book Number-13: 978-0-309-37985-4
International Standard Book Number-10: 0-309-37985-7
Digital Object Identifier: 10.17226/21829

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Suggested citation: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2016. A Review of the Landscape Conservation Cooperatives. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/21829.

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2016. A Review of the Landscape Conservation Cooperatives. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/21829.
×

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The National Academy of Sciences was established in 1863 by an Act of Congress, signed by President Lincoln, as a private, nongovernmental institution to advise the nation on issues related to science and technology. Members are elected by their peers for outstanding contributions to research. Dr. Ralph J. Cicerone is president.

The National Academy of Engineering was established in 1964 under the charter of the National Academy of Sciences to bring the practices of engineering to advising the nation. Members are elected by their peers for extraordinary contributions to engineering. Dr. C. D. Mote, Jr., is president.

The National Academy of Medicine (formerly the Institute of Medicine) was established in 1970 under the charter of the National Academy of Sciences to advise the nation on medical and health issues. Members are elected by their peers for distinguished contributions to medicine and health. Dr. Victor J. Dzau is president.

The three Academies work together as the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to provide independent, objective analysis and advice to the nation and conduct other activities to solve complex problems and inform public policy decisions. The Academies also encourage education and research, recognize outstanding contributions to knowledge, and increase public understanding in matters of science, engineering, and medicine.

Learn more about the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine at www.national-academies.org.

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2016. A Review of the Landscape Conservation Cooperatives. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/21829.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2016. A Review of the Landscape Conservation Cooperatives. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/21829.
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COMMITTEE ON THE EVALUATION OF THE LANDSCAPE CONSERVATION COOPERATIVES

DOROTHY J. MERRITTS (Chair), Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster, Pennsylvania

BRENDA BARRETT, Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (retired)

F. STUART CHAPIN, University of Alaska, Fairbanks

HOLLY D. DOREMUS, University of California, Berkeley

CRAIG GROVES, The Nature Conservancy, Bozeman, Montana

KENNETH HADDAD, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (retired)

JESSICA HELLMANN, University of Minnesota, Saint Paul

LYNN MAGUIRE, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina

PHILIP W. MOTE, Oregon State University, Corvallis

JOHN A. O’LEARY, Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife (retired)

REBECCA R. RUBIN, Marstel-Day, LLC, Fredericksburg, Virginia

DALE STRICKLAND, Western EcoSystems Technology, Inc., Cheyenne, Wyoming

ERIC TOMAN, The Ohio State University, Columbus

Staff

CLAUDIA MENGELT, Study Director, Ocean Studies Board

DAVID POLICANSKY, Scholar, Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology

STACEE KARRAS, Associate Program Officer, Ocean Studies Board

HEATHER COLEMAN, Postdoctoral Fellow, Ocean Studies Board

JENNA BRISCOE, Senior Program Assistant, Board on Agriculture and Natural Resources

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2016. A Review of the Landscape Conservation Cooperatives. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/21829.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2016. A Review of the Landscape Conservation Cooperatives. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/21829.
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BOARD ON ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES AND CLIMATE

A.R. RAVISHANKARA (Chair), Colorado State University, Fort Collins

GERALD A. MEEHL (Vice Chair), National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado

LANCE F. BOSART, University at Albany, State University of New York

MARK A. CANE, Columbia University, Palisades, New York

SHUYI S. CHEN, University of Miami, Florida

HEIDI CULLEN, Climate Central, Princeton, New Jersey

PAMELA EMCH, Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems, Redondo Beach, California

ARLENE FIORE, Columbia University, Palisades, New York

WILLIAM B. GAIL, Global Weather Corporation, Boulder, Colorado

LISA GODDARD, Columbia University, Palisades, New York

MAURA HAGAN, Utah State University, Logan

TERRI S. HOGUE, Colorado School of Mines, Golden

ANTHONY JANETOS, Boston University, Massachusetts

EVERETTE JOSEPH, University at Albany, State University of New York

RONALD “NICK” KEENER, JR., Duke Energy Corporation, Charlotte, North Carolina

JOHN R. NORDGREN, The Climate Resilience Fund, Bainbridge Island, Washington

JONATHAN OVERPECK, University of Arizona, Tucson

ARISTIDES A.N. PATRINOS, New York University, Brooklyn

S.T. RAO, North Carolina State University, Raleigh

DAVID A. ROBINSON, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Piscataway

CLAUDIA TEBALDI, National Center for Atmospheric Research, Climate Central, Boulder, Colorado

Ocean Studies Board Liaison

DAVID HALPERN, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California

Polar Research Board Liaison

JENNIFER FRANCIS, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Marion, Massachusetts

Staff

AMANDA STAUDT, Director

EDWARD DUNLEA, Senior Program Officer

LAURIE GELLER, Program Director

KATHERINE THOMAS, Senior Program Officer

LAUREN EVERETT, Program Officer

ALISON MACALADY, Program Officer

AMANDA PURCELL, Associate Program Officer

RITA GASKINS, Administrative Coordinator

ROB GREENWAY, Program Associate

SHELLY FREELAND, Financial Associate

MICHAEL HUDSON, Senior Program Assistant

ERIN MARKOVICH, Program Assistant

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BOARD ON AGRICULTURE AND NATURAL RESOURCES

NORMAN R. SCOTT (Chair), Cornell University, Ithaca, New York

PEGGY F. BARLETT, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia

HAROLD L. BERGMAN, University of Wyoming, Laramie

SUSAN CAPALBO, Oregon State University, Corvallis

GAIL CZARNECKI-MAULDEN, Nestlé Research Center, St. Louis, Missouri

RICHARD A. DIXON, Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation, Ardmore, Oklahoma

GIBISA EJETA, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana

ROBERT B. GOLDBERG, University of California, Los Angeles

FRED GOULD, North Carolina State University, Raleigh

GARY F. HARTNELL, Monsanto Company, St. Louis, Missouri

GENE HUGOSON, Minnesota Department of Agriculture, St. Paul

MOLLY M. JAHN, University of Wisconsin–Madison

ROBBIN S. JOHNSON, Cargill Foundation, Wayzata, Minnesota

JAMES W. JONES, University of Florida, Gainesville

A.G. KAWAMURA, Solutions from the Land, Irvine, California

STEPHEN S. KELLY, North Carolina State University, Raleigh

JULIA L. KORNEGAY, North Carolina State University, Raleigh

CHARLES W. RICE, Kansas State University, Manhattan

JIM E. RIVIERE, Kansas State University, Manhattan

ROGER A. SEDJO, Resources for the Future, Washington, DC

KATHLEEN SEGERSON, University of Connecticut, Storrs

MERCEDES VÁZQUEZ-AÑON, Novus International, Inc., St. Charles, Missouri

Staff

ROBIN A. SCHOEN, Director

CAMILLA YANDOC ABLES, Program Officer

JENNA BRISCOE, Senior Program Assistant

KARA N. LANEY, Program Officer

JANET M. MULLIGAN, Senior Program Associate

PEGGY YIH, Senior Program Officer

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Preface

In 2014, the National Research Council convened a committee to examine the Landscape Conservation Cooperatives (LCC) program, drawing upon members whose expertise spans atmospheric sciences, biology, ecology, forestry, marine sciences, plant physiology, zoology, geomorphology, environmental policy, resource management, and decision analysis. This span of expertise reflects the need to encompass a view as wide ranging as that of a landscape-scale approach to conservation. A landscape-scale approach significantly broadens the 20th-century practice of conservation. In this report, “a landscape is defined as a large area encompassing an interacting mosaic of ecosystems and human systems that is characterized by a set of intersecting management concerns. The landscape is not defined by the size of the area, but rather by the interacting elements that are meaningful to the management objectives.”1

The essence of conservation is to preserve, guard, protect, and use wisely. Commonly the word conservation is associated with wildlife, soil, water, and habitat, each of them a resource considered important to manage. Landscape conservation encompasses all of these and more, extending to the interacting mosaic of ecosystems and human systems and the many drivers that impact them. Conservation managers recognized the need for a landscape-scale approach, and in 2009, the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Secretary Ken Salazar issued Secretarial Order No. 3289 to establish the LCCs. Broadening the scope of conservation to the scale of landscapes also requires cooperation and partnerships among many entities that themselves span institutional and geographic boundaries.

With this background, the committee’s task was to examine the LCC program 5 years after it was established. The breadth of expertise of committee members was invaluable as it considered a landscape-scale approach to conservation, met with resource managers and policy makers representing a range of jurisdictional scales, and assessed impacts of the LCC program on the health of fish, wildlife, and their habitats. Many of the issues required greater understanding of how partnerships work across jurisdictional boundaries, and the direct experience of members from their own work was crucial. I am grateful to the committee members for their insights, thoughtfulness, and ability to develop consensus during this process. The committee is appreciative of the time and responsiveness of many who met with us and responded to our requests for more information, and their help enhanced our work.

I give special thanks and admiration to the National Academies staff—Claudia Mengelt, Study Director; David Policanksy, Scholar; Stacee Karras, Research Associate; and Jenna Briscoe, Senior Program Assistant—for their keen insights, thorough attention to detail, and dedication to this effort. It was a pleasure to work with such a professional group.

Dorothy Merritts, Chair

___________________

1 Based on definition of “landscape scale” from the President’s Priority Agenda: Enhancing the Climate Resilience of America’s Natural Resources, which can be found at https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/docs/enhancing_climate_resilience_of_americas_natural_resources.pdf.

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Acknowledgments

This report has been reviewed in draft form by persons chosen for their diverse perspectives and technical expertise. The purpose of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments to assist the institution in making its published report as sound as possible and to ensure that the report meets institutional standards of objectivity, evidence, and responsiveness to the study charge. The review comments and draft manuscript remain confidential to protect the integrity of the deliberative process. We wish to thank the following for their review of this report:

Douglas Austen, American Fisheries Society, Bethesda, Maryland

John Frampton, Council to Advance Hunting and the Shooting Sports, Washington, DC

William Graf, University of South Carolina, Columbia

Merlin Hanauer, Sonoma State University, Rohnert Park, California

Terri Hogue, Colorado School of Mines, Golden

Christopher Hoving, Michigan Department of Natural Resources, Lansing

Matthew McKinney, University of Montana, Missoula

Vicky Meretsky, Indiana University, Bloomington

Jensen Montambault, The Nature Conservancy, Charlottesville, Virginia

Virgil Moore, Idaho Fish and Game Commission, Boise

Lynne Sebastian, SRI Foundation, Rio Rancho, New Mexico

Although the reviewers listed above have provided many constructive comments and suggestions, they were not asked to endorse the conclusions or recommendations, nor did they see the final draft of the report before its release. The review of this report was overseen by Susan Hanson, Clark University, and Bonnie McCay, Rutgers University, who were responsible for making certain that an independent examination of this report was carried out in accordance with institutional procedures and that all review comments were carefully considered. Responsibility for the final content of this report rests entirely with the author committee and the institution.

The committee would like to especially thank Elsa Haubold and Karen Murphy from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for their invaluable assistance in providing background documents requested by the committee throughout the report writing process. This report was also greatly enhanced by the efforts of those who participated in committee meetings and informal phone conversations. The committee would like to acknowledge Sergio Avila, Rob Campellone, Dan Decker, Carolyn Enquist, Lise Hanners, John Harja, Polly Hicks, Genevieve Johnson, Randy Johnson, Rodd Kelsey, Ken Mayer, Jerry McMahon, Marcia McNutt, Virgil Moore, Dan Odess, Brady Phillips, Karen Pletnikoff, Duane Pool, Jeff Raasch, Ron Regan, Sue Rodman, Glen Salmon, Ray Sauvajot, Lynn Scarlett, John Schmerfeld, Michelle Selmon, Allison Shipp, Carter Smith, Wayne Spencer, Buck Sutter, Gary Tabor, Stephanie Toothman, Larry Voyles, Gwen White, David Whitehurst, Michael Whitfield, Ulalia Woodside, and Mark Zacharias.

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The United States' tradition of conserving fish, wildlife, habitats, and cultural resources dates to the mid-19th century. States have long sought to manage fish and wildlife species within their borders, whereas many early federal conservation efforts focused on setting aside specific places as parks, sanctuaries, or reserves. With advances in landscape ecology over the past quarter-century, conservation planners, scientists, and practitioners began to stress the importance of conservation efforts at the scale of landscapes and seascapes. These larger areas were thought to harbor relatively large numbers of species that are likely to maintain population viability and sustain ecological processes and natural disturbance regimes - often considered critical factors in conserving biodiversity.

By focusing conservation efforts at the level of whole ecosystems and landscape, practitioners can better attempt to conserve the vast majority of species in a particular ecosystem. Successfully addressing the large-scale, interlinked problems associated with landscape degradation will necessitate a planning process that bridges different scientific disciplines and across sectors, as well as an understanding of complexity, uncertainty, and the local context of conservation work. The landscape approach aims to develop shared conservation priorities across jurisdictions and across many resources to create a single, collaborative conservation effort that can meet stakeholder needs.

Conservation of habitats, species, ecosystem services, and cultural resources in the face of multiple stressors requires governance structures that can bridge the geographic and jurisdictional boundaries of the complex socio-ecological systems in which landscape-level conservation occurs. The Landscape Conservation Cooperatives (LCC) Network was established to complement and add value to the many ongoing state, tribal, federal, and nongovernmental efforts to address the challenge of conserving species, habitats, ecosystem services, and cultural resources in the face of large-scale and long-term threats, including climate change. A Review of the Landscape Conservation Cooperatives evaluates the purpose, goals, and scientific merits of the LCC program within the context of similar programs, and whether the program has resulted in measurable improvements in the health of fish, wildlife, and their habitats.

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