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The Landscape Conservation Bulletin
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A bi-monthly publication of the Network
for
Landscape Conservation
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Dear Network Friends and Partners,
A
s this issue of the Bulletin shows, exciting developments continue to build in the field of landscape conservation. The Network too has much underway: stay tuned in the coming months as we work to launch an improved Network website, synthesize insights from our survey of landscape conservation initiatives and our pilot Peer Exchange program, and distill innovative thinking from our upcoming Forum on Landscape Conservation.
We also ask that you consider sharing your photographs with us - both to highlight your own work and to empower the Network as a whole.
Click here for more information on contributing your photographs.
As always, please be in touch as we all move forward together.
Emily M. Bateson
Network Coordinator
Banner photo credit: Stephen Joseph Photography, courtesy of Sonoma Land Trust
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Featured News
Global Land Outlook report calls for embracing a landscape-scale approach in rethinking the use and management of natural resources
The Global Land Outlook, a report undertaken by the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, was released this month. The Outlook is a unique perspective on one of the Earth's most precious assets: land. The report (supported by supplemental Working Papers) outlines the central importance of land quality to human well-being; assesses current trends in land conversion, degradation and loss; and recommends an integrated landscape vision for land management policy, planning and practice. The authors note that we are at a critical juncture, fast approaching and in some cases surpassing planetary boundaries on what we demand of our natural resources. Nonetheless, they argue that by transforming the way we plan, use, and manage land through an integrated landscape perspective we can reverse the worrying trends in the state of the globe's land resources. Read the Integrated Landscape Management Working Paper here or explore the full report below.
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Featured News
National Conservation Easement Database provides data update and launches updated website
Last month, the National Conservation Easement Database released its 2017 data update and unveiled a new website. The new website is intended to be more user-friendly and interactive, allowing users to search easements based on holding entity or geographic location. The NCED - a first-of-its-kind national database of conservation easement information from U.S. land trusts and public agencies - is intended to help organizations plan more strategically, identify opportunities for collaboration, enhance public accountability, and highlight on-the-ground conservation successes. The Database currently contains more than 146,000 easements that represent more than 25 million acres of conserved land across the United States.
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Featured News
Wildlands and Woodlands, Farmlands and Communities:
New Report Broadens the Conservation Vision for New England
This month, a new Wildlands and Woodlands, Farmlands and Communities report was released to broaden the initial vision established by Wildlands and Woodlands in 2010. This broadened vision recognizes the interdependent role that forests, farms, rural communities, suburbs, and cities play in shaping the New England landscape, and fully embraces the importance of considering farmland and the built environment - from rural communities to suburban towns and urban centers - in landscape conservation. The newly released report tracks progress toward and presents new information on major challenges and opportunities for achieving the Wildlands and Woodlands Initiative vision; importantly too it recognizes and honors the regional differences in conservation needs and challenges between northern and southern New England.
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Click to learn more about water funds |
Featured News
Adopting a landscape perspective on drinking water: Source-water protection increasingly being embraced by urban areas
On the theme of the interplay between ecosystems and built environment, urban areas - home to more than half of the global population - are increasingly recognizing how critically important the surrounding landscapes are for providing and managing a suite of services. A prominent example: clean, reliable drinking water. Cities are increasingly exploring source-water land conservation as a cost-effective means of ensuring drinking water quality. New York City's Watershed Protection effort is the perhaps the best-known example of this, but other cities are receiving attention for their actions too. A recent Nature Conservancy Magazine article highlights The Nature Conservancy's collaborative source-water work with five cities across the globe; a Conservation Finance Network article explores the financing mechanism that San Antonio, Texas - one of the five cities profiled in the magazine article - has successfully implemented to fund its source-water protection efforts.
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Additional Landscape Conservation News
New study underscores importance of corridors for limiting wildlife extinction rates and population declines in areas of fragmented habitat
Article highlights importance of landscape connectivity in President Obama's expansion of Oregon's Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument
Georgia's Altamaha River, highlighted as a "conservation corridor," underscores the importance of cooperation represented by the Southeast Conservation Adaptation Strategy
"Resilience Bonds" concept seeks to shift financing from post-disaster to pre-disaster to create resilient-infrastructure systems that reduce expected disaster losses
The Atlantic article tackles questions of landscape connectivity in urban environments
"Nature-Culture Journey: Exploring Shared Terrain", a thematic issue of the George Wright Forum, explores the interconnectedness of nature-culture and ways to improve conservation
Note: full content of the Forum is only freely available once the next issue comes out
Wildlands Network's "Half East" map offers a 100-plus-year vision of an Eastern North America network of protected lands and waters
Learn more
and note authors are asking for
feedback on vision
Reflection piece offers insights into the key components of collaboration in conservation
Brief highlights the role of NRCS funding in forwarding New England's landscape conservation vision
Opinion piece underscores the need for conservation efforts to reckon with diversity and inclusion
Read the piece
U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein & Tahoe Regional Planning Agency Executive Director Joanne Marchetta use 2017 Tahoe Summit to underscore importance of collaboration in face of climate change
The Nature Conservancy and the New York State Department of Transportation are partnering in the Adirondacks to pilot new wildlife pathways underneath highways
Western Landowners Alliance releases new publication on landowner perspectives to the Endangered Species Act
Article highlights how The Conservation Fund's Working Woods Fund is helping to conserve working forests and keep rural economies alive
Landscapes that we depend upon: article explores the common ground that conservatives and conservationists find along the Chesapeake shores
Three-part series explores wildlife refuges in the Klamath Basin as a lens through which to consider the broader theme of water in the arid west
Explore the articles: part one, part two, and part three
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Upcoming Conferences & Opportunities
Please look for the Network for Landscape Conservation at the Land Trust Alliance Rally in October, where we will be hosting both a workshop and a landscape conservation breakfast.
Pensacola, FL
Bangor, ME
Little Switzerland, NC
Fort Collins, CO
Quebec City, Canada
Denver, CO
Connect with NLC: the Network is moderating the "Collaborating and Conserving at the Landscape Scale" workshop on October 27th, and is co-hosting a landscape conservation breakfast (registration requested) on October 28th.
Nashua, NH
Santiago, Chile
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Webinars & Additional Resources
A Nicholas School for Environmental Policy Solutions webinar
October 17, 2017
A National Park Service "Scaling Up" webinar
October 18, 2017
A Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative webinar
October 25, 2017
A Conservation Biology Institute webinar
November 9, 2017
A National Park Service "Scaling Up" webinar
November 15, 2017
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, community, and culture in the 21st Century.
Contact Emily Bateson, Network Coordinator, for more information.
Contributions of news, upcoming events, and resources for future Bulletins are welcomed.
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