Affiliation:
1. Department of Geography and Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies University of Wisconsin‐Madison Madison Wisconsin USA
2. Southwest Michigan Land Conservancy Comstock Michigan USA
3. School of Environment, Geography, and Sustainability Western Michigan University Kalamazoo Michigan USA
4. Sarett Nature Center Benton Harbor Michigan USA
Abstract
AbstractLand trusts have historically selected many project sites opportunistically, awaiting communication from willing sellers or donors interested in conserving their land. However, in light of the multiple ecological crises faced by land trusts, including climate change, biodiversity loss, and habitat destruction, there is a growing awareness of the need to practice land conservation with an increased pace, scale, and efficacy. In answer to that challenge, we provide one example of how a land trust can adopt methodology for the strategic selection of land protection project sites. Strategic land conservation, as demonstrated in this paper, involves thoughtful prioritization of the attributes of future conservation project sites. Following prioritization, spatial analysis of the region is conducted to identify sites that meet the prioritized attributes, in this case, resilience to climate change. The case study explored in this paper is the 2020 Strategic Land Conservation Plan created by Southwest Michigan Land Conservancy and its partners.