conservation easements and their contribution to natural vegetation … · 2015. 5. 8. · total...
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Kai Foster, Tosha Comendant, Michael Lundin & James Strittholt Conservation Biology Institute
April 1, 2015
Conservation Easements and Their Contribution to Natural Vegetation Protection
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Research Question
To what extent do different land protection mechanism contribute to the protection of natural vegetation in the conterminous US?
• restricted use lands – permanently protected lands managed to maintain a natural or nearly natural state
• multiple use lands – permanently protected lands managed to conservation of predominately natural land cover with multiple use (including extractive uses)
• conservation easements – land with voluntary restrictions for conservation purposes
Funding from USDA Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA)
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Why is this important?
• Detailed characterization of current condition – what is currently protection • Potential ability crosswalk data with Dynamic Vegetation Model (DVM) data and investigate potential future vegetation
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Methods
Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US CBI Edition) Version 2
National Conservation Easement Database (NCED) Phase 4
LANDFIRE Existing Vegetation Type (EVT) 110 & 210
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National Conservation Easement Database
• Began in 2009 • Current Database
22,204,790 acres (105,883 easements) • Released June 2014 (revised October 2014)
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NCED – NGO Completeness
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NCED – Public Completeness
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Total Extent and Protection
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Protected by Conservation Easement
% Protected by Conservation
Easement
Total Acres of Natural Vegetation Protected by Conservation Easements
# of Natural Vegetation Types
<1% 4.2 Million 48
1.1 to 2% 2.7 Million 25
2.1 to 3% 2.8 Million 7
3.1 to 4% 200 Thousand 1
4.1 to 5% 290 Thousand 4
>5% 3.8 Million 5
Total 14 Million
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Analysis Results and Application
• Characterization of protection of natural vegetation Restricted-use Lands 128,163,195 acres
Multiple-use Lands 297,860,912 acres Conservation Easements 14,013,612 acres Protected Lands Network 440,037,719 acres
• Conservation Easement provide measureable protection to natural vegetation • Enable future research on climate impacts and protection mechanism adaptation
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Example – Delaware River Easements
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Sea Level Rise
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Conclusion
• Plan for future management of current conservation easement • Evaluate of conservation purpose under different climate scenarios • Prioritize acquisitions of future easements
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Resources
Protecting Natural Vegetation: Compartive Analysis of Land Protection Mechanisms http://consbio.org/products/reports/protecting-vegetation
Protected Areas Database, PAD-US (CBI Edition) v2 http://consbio.org/newsroom/news/release-pad-us-cbi-edition-v2
Protected Areas Database, PAD-US (CBI Edition) v2.1 http://consbio.org/products/projects/PAD-US-CBI-establishment-dates
National Conservation Easement Database (NCED) http://conservationeasement.us/