ABSTRACT
An essential fi rst step in conservation land management is a site (the parcel) and landscape (what is around it) survey to inventory current conditions and catalog important habitats. The purpose of the site assessment is to evaluate the presence and condition of important natural resources and to identify threats to the focal resources and the ecosystem as a whole. Target resources can be species, habitats, rivers, landforms, viewscapes, farms, cultural resources, groundwater, or ecosystem services and ecological processes.[8,9] Site assessment can be a complex activity and require personnel familiar with local ecological conditions. Assessment involves fi eld survey and consolidation of relevant geospatial information such as data from Geographic Information Systems (wetlands, rare species occurrences, land use, soils, landform, etc.), digital imagery, and the results of previous reconnaissance of the area if available. The initial site assessment establishes a baseline condition for easement monitoring and tracking changes in the condition of the property. Landscape analysis provides a regional context for conservation and provides insight in gains and losses of dispersal corridors, up-watershed threats that would jeopardize site-level habitats or species, and land use changes on nearby properties that might enhance or diminish the conservation value of a particular parcel.[10] There is a growing number of protocols that have been advanced to perform a baseline inventory.[11,12]
Development of Management Goals and Plan
Development of management goals is an essential step and the goals of the management plan will refl ect the values of
Table 1 Examples of common conservation goals and management activities that achieve them Goal Management and stewardship actions
Preserve biodiversity Protect large tracts of land. Connect separate refuges with corridors. Increase the size of refuges. Enforce policies against poaching wildlife or harvesting plants. Ensure adjacent land uses are not a source of invasive species, pests, or pathogens. Monitor for invasive species, pests, and pathogens. Monitor population levels of key or indicator species of plants and animals.
