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
THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS
Washington, DC
www.nap.edu
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.
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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
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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
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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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Contents
National Need for a Landscape Approach to Conservation
The Landscape Conservation Cooperatives in the Context of Other Similar Programs
Early Accomplishments of the LCCs
Evaluating Progress for the National LCC Network
Demonstrating Benefits to LCC Partners and the Nation
Landscape Conservation Cooperatives
Implementation of the Secretarial Order: The LCC Network Structure and Function
The Committee’s Approach and Report Roadmap
History of Landscape-Scale Conservation
Conservation Challenges at the Landscape Scale
Institutional Challenges of Landscape-Scale Conservation
Landscape Approach in Conservation
Socio-Ecological Systems in Landscape Conservation
Challenges of Launching a Landscape Approach
3 EVALUATING THE LANDSCAPE CONSERVATION COOPERATIVES NETWORK STRATEGIC PLAN
Evaluating the Goals and Objectives of the Landscape Conservation Cooperatives
Timing of Evaluations in the Program Life Cycle
Relationship of This Framework to Performance Measurement and Evaluation of Government Programs
4 AN EXAMINATION OF THE EVALUATION PROCESS FOR THE LANDSCAPE CONSERVATION COOPERATIVES
Need for and Challenge of Developing Program Metrics
Approach for Evaluating Conservation Programs Using Performance Measures
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Strategy to Assess the Individual LCCs
Developing Appropriate Short-, Medium-, and Long-Term Metrics
Conclusions and Recommendations
5 THE LANDSCAPE CONSERVATION COOPERATIVES AND OTHER SIMILAR FEDERAL PROGRAMS
Detailed Consideration of Similar Programs
Coordination Among Regional Programs
Early Accomplishments of the LCCs and the LCC Network
What Longer-Term Impacts Have Resulted from Other Landscape-Scale Efforts?
Components of a Landscape-Scale Initiative Important to Yielding Desired Long-Term Outcomes
A Greater Sage-Grouse: A Collaborative Conservation Effort
B Mississippi River Basin and Gulf Hypoxia: Collaborations Across Multiple LCCs
C Guidance for Landscape Conservation Planning and Designs
D Description of Other Federal Programs
F Landscape Conservation Cooperatives 2014 Network Strategic Plan
G Goals of Individual LCCs Compared to Goals of the LCC Network Strategic Plan