Quantifying the National Significance of Local Areas for Regional Conservation Planning: North Carolina’s Mountain Treasures

Belote, R. Travis; Irwin, Gareth

doi:10.3390/land6020035

Cited by 3 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 40 publications

(57 reference statements)

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“…In other words, these data could identify valuable but insufficiently protected ranger districts (sensu [46]). In some cases, the most species rich ranger districts may be priorities for additional conservation protection [18,48]. In other cases, the least human modified (wildest) forests with minimal protection may be priorities for designating future conservation reserves [49,50].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Species-Rich National Forests Experience More Intense Human Modification, but Why?

Belote¹

2018

Forests

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Ecologists have studied geographic gradients in biodiversity for decades and recently mapped the intensity of the “human footprint” around the planet. The combination of these efforts have identified some global hotspots of biodiversity that are heavily impacted by human-caused land cover change and infrastructure. However, other hotspots of biodiversity experience less intense modifications from humans. Relationships between species diversity and the human footprint may be driven by covarying factors, like climate, soils, or topography, that coincidentally influence patterns of biodiversity and human land use. Here, I investigated relationships between tree species richness and the degree of human modification among Forest Service ranger districts within the contiguous US. Ranger districts with more tree species tended to experience greater human modification. Using data on climate, soils, and topography, I explored mechanisms explaining the positive relationship between tree richness and human modification. I found that climate is related to both tree richness and human modification, which may be indirectly mediated through climate’s role governing productivity. Ranger districts with more productive climates support more species and greater human modification. To explore potential conservation consequences of these relationships, I also investigated whether the amount of area designated within highly protected conservation lands were related to climate, productivity, and topography. Less productive ranger districts with steeper slopes tended to experience the greatest relative amounts of conservation protection. Combined, these results suggest that complex relationships explain the geographic patterns of biodiversity and the human footprint, but that climate and topography partially govern patterns of each.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Species-Rich National Forests Experience More Intense Human Modification, but Why?

Belote¹

2018

Forests

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“…It was argued that suitability was assessed using local evaluations that occurred during the 1980s. However, before demoting these or any such areas from their current status as WSAs based solely on local assessments, it may be critical to conduct updated assessments and include analyses that quantify their value at national scales [13,14]. Without such an assessment, the value of areas slated for demotion may not be fully appreciated.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Proposed Release of Wilderness Study Areas in Montana (USA) Would Demote the Conservation Status of Nationally-Valuable Wildlands

Belote¹

2018

Land

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Wildlands are increasingly lost to human development. Conservation scientists repeatedly call for protecting the remaining wildlands and expanding the land area protected in reserves. Despite these calls, conservation reserves can be eliminated through legislation that demotes their conservation status. For example, legislation introduced to the Congress of the United States recently would demote 29 Wilderness Study Areas (WSAs) from the protections afforded by their existing status. The proposed legislation suggests that the 29 areas are not suitable for a promotion and future inclusion in the National Wilderness Preservation System based on decades-old local evaluations. Local evaluations, notwithstanding, it may be important to consider the value of lands from a national perspective. Without a national perspective, local evaluations alone may lead to overlooking the national significance of lands. With this in mind, I used five qualities of wildland value (wildness, intactness of night sky, lack of human-generated noises, intactness of mammals, and intactness of mammal carnivores of conservation concern) to compare the 29 WSAs to all national parks and wilderness areas located within the contiguous United States. The pool of 29 WSAs was similar to the pool of national parks and wilderness areas with respect to the five qualities assessed, and some of the WSAs were characterized by higher values than most of national parks and wilderness areas. This analysis demonstrates the national significance of the WSAs targeted for demotion of their existing conservation status. Such an approach could be used in future land management legislation and planning to ensure that a national perspective on conservation value is brought to bear on decisions facing federally-managed lands.

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“…It was argued that suitability was assessed using local evaluations that occurred during the 1980s. However, before demoting these or any such areas from their current status as WSAs based solely on local assessments, it may be critical to conduct updated assessments and include analyses that quantify their value at national scales [12,13]. Without such an assessment, the value of areas slated for demotion may not be fully appreciated.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Proposed Release of Wilderness Study Areas in Montana (USA) Would Demote the Conservation Status of Nationally-Valuable Wildlands

Belote¹

2018

Preprint

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Wildlands are increasingly lost to human development. Conservation scientists repeatedly call for protecting the remaining wildlands and expanding the land area protected in reserves. Despite these calls, conservation reserves can be eliminated through legislation that demotes their conservation status. For example, legislation introduced to the Congress of the United States recently would demote 29 Wilderness Study Areas (WSAs) from the protections afforded by their existing status. The legislation suggests that the 29 areas are not suitable for a promotion and future inclusion in the National Wilderness Preservation System based on decades-old local evaluations. Local evaluations, notwithstanding, it may be important to consider the value of lands from a national perspective. Without a national perspective, local evaluations alone may overlook the national significance of lands. With this in mind, I used five qualities of wildland value (wildness, light pollution, noise pollution, intactness of mammals, and intactness mammal carnivores of conservation concern) to compare the 29 WSAs to all national parks and wilderness areas located within the contiguous United States. The pool of 29 WSAs were similar to the pool of national parks and wilderness with respect to the five qualities assessed, and some of the WSAs were characterized by higher values than most of national parks and wilderness areas. This analysis demonstrates the national significance of the WSAs targeted for conservation status demotion. Such an approach could be used in future land management legislation and planning to ensure that a national perspective on conservation value is brought to bear on decisions facing federally-managed lands.

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Quantifying the National Significance of Local Areas for Regional Conservation Planning: North Carolina’s Mountain Treasures

Cited by 3 publications

References 40 publications

Species-Rich National Forests Experience More Intense Human Modification, but Why?

Species-Rich National Forests Experience More Intense Human Modification, but Why?

Proposed Release of Wilderness Study Areas in Montana (USA) Would Demote the Conservation Status of Nationally-Valuable Wildlands

Proposed Release of Wilderness Study Areas in Montana (USA) Would Demote the Conservation Status of Nationally-Valuable Wildlands

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