The Landscape Conservation Bulletin
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A bi-monthly service of the Network for
Landscape Conservation
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Dear Network Friends and Partners,
It can be hard to open the newspaper these days, with one grim ecological story after another. But as I read the stories below, I am once again heartened by the extraordinary energy and catalytic progress of collaborative landscape conservation partnerships across the continent and beyond. I am reminded anew how much inspiration and learning there is to be gained from one another, and I encourage you to share your own stories with us—including news, events, Perspectives, and our brand new “job board.”
You will hear from us again next week when we release the 2020 RFP for the
Landscape Conservation Catalyst Fund
, our regrant program generously funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation—stay tuned!
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Emily M. Bateson
Network Director
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Sentinel Landscapes documentary
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CA Landscape Stewardship Network white paper
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Conservation Finance developments
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Perspectives:
Getting it "right"
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Additional Landscape Conservation News
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Landscape Conservation Job Board
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Webinars & Additional Resources
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Cover photo of the west shore of Lake Tahoe, by Drone Promotions, courtesy of the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency
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Featured News
Documentary on collaboration between defense, conservation, and agricultural communities will premiere at the D.C. Environmental Film Festival
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An exciting new documentary that explores the benefits of the
Sentinel Landscapes Partnership
will premiere on Friday, March 13th at the 2020 D.C. Environmental Film Festival in Washington, D.C. Now in its 27th year, the Festival is considered the world’s premiere showcase of environmentally-themed films. Additional information about the 2020 Festival, including final showtimes and locations, will be released in the coming weeks (check the festival’s
website
for updates).
As practitioners continue to look to forge the partnerships and collaborations that can transform the future of our landscapes under increasing pressure from population growth and urbanization, the Sentinel Landscapes Partnership represents a critical innovation. Founded in 2013 by leaders within the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Department of Defense, and Department of Interior working across boundaries to connect mission priorities at the landscape-scale, the Partnership is a diverse coalition of federal agencies, state and local governments, and non-governmental organizations that works with private landowners to advance sustainable land management practices around military installations and ranges. Farming, ranching, and forestry not only offer significant ecological and economic benefits, but also protect defense facilities from incompatible development that can constrain the military's ability to carry out important testing and training activities. The Sentinel Landscapes Partnership accomplishes its mission by connecting private landowners with
voluntary state and federal assistance programs
that provide tax benefits, educational opportunities, technical aid, funding for conservation easements, and more. The Partnership currently has
seven designated landscapes
, and through fiscal year 2018 Sentinel Landscape partners have permanently protected over 240,000 acres of land and implemented sustainable management practices on an additional 1.6 million acres of land across these seven Sentinel Landscapes.
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Featured News
Salazar Center launches Conservation Impact Prize, focusing in first year on landscape connectivity
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In early December, the Salazar Center for North American Conservation at Colorado State University officially opened its inaugural Conservation Impact Prize, an annual competition to inspire breakthroughs in conservation in North America. This first year of the prize is themed the “Connectivity Challenge,” with teams invited to submit proposals that drive innovation in landscape connectivity for habitat and community benefit in North America.
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Though only one team will receive the $100,000 prize, the application process is designed to build a community of interest and provide tangible benefit to all applicants. Teams interested in submitting proposals must register by Thursday, March 19, 2020.
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Featured News
California Landscape Stewardship Network continues to advance collaborative, landscape-scale work
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Like elsewhere across the country, collaborative landscape-scale initiatives have emerged throughout California, and practitioners across the state have joined forces in giving focused attention to what it means to conserve and steward landscapes that span jurisdictional boundaries. The California Landscape Stewardship Network has emerged as a leader in the field, and has
issued a new white paper
this month on the importance of and pathways for advancing collaborative conservation at scale. Though framed through the public policy context of California, the white paper is relevant regardless of geography and represents an important example of a focused framework for shaping the policy environment to support and accelerate collaborative, landscape-scale efforts at the regional level. Elsewhere, the Network has also recently partnered with
Bay Nature
to publish a
“21st Century Stewardship” special booklet
in the magazine’s Winter 2020 issue. This special booklet captures a series of stories intended to bring the concepts of cross-boundary conservation and stewardship to life in ways that will resonate locally, regional, and nationally. The eight articles of this special booklet together represent a valuable example of articulating and sharing the value and urgency of this work.
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Featured News
New articles and reports continue to add insights into trends and innovations around funding and financing conservation at scale
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As practitioners across the country and beyond work to increase the pace and scale of conservation to meet the pressing challenges threatening our landscapes, the importance of exploring new innovations in funding and financing for conservation is clearly essential. Last month, the
Conservation Finance Network synthesized recent reports and expert observation
to note a changing dynamic and shifting trends for philanthropy in conservation. Elsewhere, this past October the Alliance for Environmental Markets and Investments and Forest Trends hosted an Environmental Markets and Finance Summit. In November
the Summit Report
was released, highlighting the need to frame a coordinated financial strategy to scale up global restoration. Finally, The Nature Conservancy and Environmental Finance released in November a new report,
“Investing in Nature: Private Finance for Nature-based Resilience,”
which highlights the momentum building behind market-based solutions to protect and improve our landscapes.
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Perspectives: Landscape Conservation in Action
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Getting it "right" with landscape conservation
In this month's
Perspectives
piece, Peter Williams reflects on the notion of trying to "get it right" when planning for collaborative landscape conservation. He suggests there is a truly meaningful difference between searching for right answers and searching for good answers—and that seeking "right" answers rather than good answers constrains thinking and can be counterproductive if not destructive to achieving collaborative implementation on the ground. He further questions the tendency to define "rightness' through a purely technical lens, and instead underscores the importance of considering rightness contextually, focusing on what is appropriate for your context from multiple perspectives. Understanding the difference between right and good answers and embracing a broader concept of goodness, Peter suggests, will result in greater collaborative capacity to get work done when moving from planning to implementation—and thus have a greater impact on the future of your landscape. Peter's
Perspective
piece is sure to provide fodder for reflection as we all continue to think about how best to navigate the complexities of working collaboratively to achieve successes for landscapes we cherish.
Note: Peter's Perspectives piece is adapted from a blog post he originally shared via
The Smokey Wire
blog
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A direct and compelling headline
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Additional Landscape Conservation News
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Writing in
Sierra
, author David Gessner tours the Interior American West and offers up connectivity as the path forward for American landscapes.
Landscape conservation hits a 50-year milestone in Lake Tahoe.
Blog post highlights the notion of “breakthrough collaboration” and shares insights around distinctive elements of such collaboration.
Opinion piece in the
Tampa Bay Times
shares the story of the latest Florida Wildlife Corridor exhibition, and shows a path forward for a critical bottleneck in the corridor.
Article in
The Narwhal
highlights the growing emergence of a new era of Indigenous-led conservation that is not only better at protecting wild places but embraces the communities and cultures that have stewarded these lands since time immemorial.
Using Houston Wilderness and Portland's The Interwine, as examples, The Nature of Cities article highlights the importance of strategic analysis for identifying what to protect in urban areas to keep natural systems and human communities thriving.
Land Trust Alliance blogpost highlights research showing local economies get a boost from conservation.
Landscape conservation in the middle of everywhere: the convergence of community, culture, and tall-grass prairie in the Flint Hills of Kansas.
Updated Southeast Conservation Blueprint released in October, to continue to serve as a spatial plan that identifies important areas for conservation and restoration across the Southeast and Caribbean.
Washington Pos
t article highlights how climate change is impacting monarch butterfly migration.
Texas Land Trends report released in December, highlighting the current status and trends over the last two decades of working lands in Texas.
Special issue of
Land
now accepting submission on the theme of Dynamic Landscape Connectivity.
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A direct and compelling headline
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Upcoming Conferences & Events
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Tampa, FL
Davos, Switzerland
Fort Collins, CO
Jaipur, India
Barcelona, Spain
Note: one of five agenda tracks is dedicated to landscape conservation
Miami, FL
Toronto, ON
Marseille, France
New Haven, CT
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A direct and compelling headline
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Landscape Conservation Job Board
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Executive Director, Partnership for Gulf Coast Land Conservation
Senior Program Manager, Corridors and Crossings program, Center for Large Landscape Conservation
Strategic Communications Director, Highstead Foundation and Wildlands and Woodlands
This month we are pleased to introduce this new section of the
Landscape Conservation Bulletin
to share job postings that will be specifically relevant to landscape conservation practitioners. We welcome submissions: if your organization would like to widely distribute a posting please
be in touch
. Just note that we will limit job postings to those focused specifically on collaborative landscape conservation.
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A direct and compelling headline
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Webinars & Additional Resources
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A Connected Conservation Webinar
February 19, 2020
A Forest Adaptation Webinar
February 27, 2020
A Connected Conservation Webinar
March 10, 2020
A Connected Conservation Webinar
April 23, 2020
A new podcast from Wildlands and Woodlands that features stories from New Englanders about why and how they conserve land.
A weekly podcast that explores the challenges presented by adapting to climate change and the approaches the field's best minds believe are already working.
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The Network for Landscape Conservation is the community of practice for practitioners advancing collaborative, cross-boundary conservation as an essential approach to protect nature, culture, and community in the 21st Century.
Contributions of news, upcoming events, and resources for future Bulletins are welcomed. We also welcome inquires for future "Perspectives: Landscapes Conservation in Action" stories;
please be in touch
if you are interested in sharing stories and insights from your work.
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The Network for Landscape Conservation is a fiscally sponsored project of the Center for Large Landscape Conservation, P.O. Box 1587, Bozeman, MT 59771
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A direct and compelling headline
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