Assessing irreplaceability for systematic conservation planning

Abstract

Systematic conservation planning requires that locations targeted for conservation action be prioritized, which can be difficult when planning across large landscapes because the possible sets of locations and conservation goals are all so large. These difficulties can be overcome with the use of computer programs that can handle large volumes of data and can identify sets of locations (called 'solutions') that achieve specified conservation goals. I describe the efforts of the conservation organization Two Countries, One Forest to identify priority locations in the Northern Appalachian/Acadian ecoregion using MARXAN to classify locations based on the number of times they are included in a solution. Priority scores range from highly irreplaceable (almost always required) to highly replaceable (almost never required). Conservation goals encompassed ecosystems, threatened and endangered species, geophysical landscape features, and focal carnivores. The amount of land at any particular level of priority varied depending on the target level set for each goal (ranging from low to high); however, target levels had only a small effect on the amount of highly irreplaceable lands (10.4-13.5% of the ecoregion), which were largely associated with existing conservation lands. Other lands also contribute to achieving regional conservation goals, but are generally interchangeable, providing flexibility for integrating conservation planning with broad public engagement. © 2010 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.