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The development of a site conservation plan is a collaborative effort. The planning process is done over a period of days to weeks to months by a team of partners.
Two types of information are fundamental to the planning process – ecological information and human context information. Information about the ecological context of the conservation targets is essential to the assessment of relevant natural systems, stresses and biodiversity health. Information about land use and economic factors, laws and policies, and cultural attitudes and stakeholders is essential for the assessment of stress sources and the development of effective conservation strategies.
Creating the plan: step-by-step Download
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Although the planning process for creating a
site conservation plan is not always linear, there are generally
nine steps involved in the creation of a plan. Each step has one
or more planning questions associated with it. In essence, site
conservation planning is the process of going through these steps,
answering the associated questions, and answering them with the
specificity needed and allowed by available information. In the
outline of the process below, the S’s
from the Five-S framework are italicized.
I. Define
Direction
II. Engage Partners
III. Assemble Information
IV. Analyze Information
V. Develop Strategies
VI. Identify Actions
VII. Assess Feasibility
VIII. Measure Progress
IX. Create Site Conservation Plan
Document
I. Define Direction
What are the conservation targets? Defined as systems in the Five-S framework, conservation targets should be focused (e.g. a flower species instead of an entire watershed) to allow for more attainable success, and can include things like:
a. Species,
including imperiled, declining, or keystone species and locations
where species aggregate, such as nesting, feeding and resting areas.
b. Communities, groupings of co-occurring species in both terrestrial and aquatic
systems.
c. Landscapes,
both natural and human-influenced landscapes, in a spatially identified
area linked by
ecological processes, environmental features (e.g. topography, soils,
geology),
environmental gradients, or land use patterns (e.g. agriculture, etc.)
d. Sustainable Uses of Natural Resources, such as sustainable grazing, forestry,
agriculture and recreation.
What are the long-term conservation goals of the project and short-term objectives for the target?
a. Conservation goals outline the conditions that conservation action is attempting to
obtain over a set period of time. An identified goal:
1. provides a vision of future conditions that can be communicated to staff,
colleagues,
stakeholders
and the public,
2. guides conservation and management action, integrating action across
conservation
targets,
3. provides a framework for identifying short-term conservation and land
management
objectives and benchmarks,
4. provides spatial and temporal priorities for conservation and land management, and
5.
provides the basis for the evaluation of conservation and land management
actions.
b. Objectives for the target are short-term,
measurable benchmarks leading to the goal.
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II. Engage Partners
Which staff or practitioners should be included in planning or implementation?
a. Small teams are typically more effective than large teams.
b. The local planning
team assembled should have an understanding of the natural
environment
as well as the human context of the site. Thus, sufficient teams
often
include:
1. One or more scientists or local field representatives who are knowledgeable about
the site, conservation targets, and supporting natural processes.
2.
The local project director or other staff member who will be assuming
responsibility
for conserving the site and have knowledge of the
local "situation" for
conservation.
3. A local government representative or agency employee familiar with local politics
and current events.
4. A conservation practitioner who has experience with conservation planning.
c. A planning team may have different members at different stages of the planning
process. For instance,
neighboring landowners may be invited to the vision-setting
meeting. Elected
officials may be asked to attend the presentation of the final plan.
How and when should they be included?
a. For planning meetings, small groups work better. But, teams can (and should) include
people who do not attend meetings and just provide information, feedback or particular
expertise.
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III. Assemble Information
What ecological conditions threaten the healthy and viability of conservation targets?
a. These stresses are the direct impairment of the condition of a conservation target and
results in reduced viability. Examples include: habitat destruction, alteration of natural
fire regimes, sedimentation, etc.
b. Stresses are the type of damage or harm. What are the characteristics of human
institutions, local communities,
and land uses that affect the ecological system?
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IV. Analyze Information
What current and potential human-mediated activities or ecological processes (e.g. groundwater reduction) interfere with maintaining the functional ecosystem?
a. These sources of stress are an extraneous factor that causes stress. For example:
policies, land uses,
introduction of non-native species, etc.
b. Sources of stress are the cause of the damage or harm.
Which stakeholders are likely to affect or be affected by attempts to achieve conservation goals? Stakeholders are individuals, groups, or institutions who:
a. Would benefit if the conservation goals are achieved,
b. Would be hurt if the conservation goals are not achieved,
c. Could shape public opinion about the conservation goals,
d. Have the authority to make decisions about activities that affect the conservation goals
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V. Develop Strategies
What are some appropriate conservation strategies to prevent or mitigate the sources of stress?
a. The ultimate goal of conservation strategies is to reduce the stresses that can degrade
and impair the conservation targets. There are two major paths for accomplishing this:
1. threat abatement strategies – actions that abate the critical threats, assuming that
reducing the threat will improve the condition of the conservation target
2. restoration strategies – actions that actively restore the desired condition of the
conservation target and are needed in situations when removing stresses does not
result
in the recovery of the conservation target
How can stakeholders be accommodated, satisfied, or engaged?
Where are the areas on the ground in which specific strategies apply? Some strategies can be applied in a localized approach, others will be more widely broadcast. Strategies include:
a. policy change
b. land acquisition
c. Purchase of Development Rights program
d. educational outreach
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VI. Identify Actions
What actions are necessary to implement the conservation strategies?
Will/should some actions take priority due to interest, timing, funding or capacity?
Who will do them?
When will they occur?
How long will they take?
How much will they cost?
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VII. Assess Feasibility
Can the conservation strategies be implemented and the goals realized, given the situation for conservation, the program capacity to accomplish actions, and other programmatic commitments?
What partners are available to provide resources toward implementing strategies?
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VIII. Measure Progress
Is progress being made towards the site conservation goals?
a. In order to determine if the actions are having their intended effect and are a success,
monitoring of the condition
of the conservation targets is necessary. The best
evaluation is made with the
following points:
1.
Be able to summarize the success of your project in simple, easy
to understand
terms.
2. Support the easy to understand format with objective qualitative or quantitative
data.
3. Measure both the means (the conservation strategies) and the ends (the
conservation targets).
4. Measure conservation targets as directly as needed.
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IX. Create Site Conservation
Plan
Once the above questions have been
answered and the required information gathered, the site conservation
plan document can be created. Use our manual to
develop your site conservation plan document.
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Please contact Karen Bassler at karen [at] gatheringwaters.org or
608-251-9131 x12 with any questions about site conservation planning.
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