Greater Chicago is home to a surprisingly high concentration of globally significant natural communities. Within the metropolis survive some of the world's best remaining examples of eastern tallgrass prairie, oak savanna, open oak woodland, and prairie wetland. Chicago Wilderness is more than 81,000 ha of protected areas in the urban and suburban matrix. It also is the name of the coalition of more than 110 organizations committed to the survival of these natural lands. The long-term health of these imperiled communities depends on proper management of the more extensive, restorable lands that surround and connect the patches of high-quality habitat. Information critical to the success of conservation efforts in the region includes (1) a current vegetation map of Chicago Wilderness in sufficient detail to allow quantitative goal setting for the region's biodiversity recovery plan; (2) quantified fragmentation status of the natural communities; and (3) patterns of land-cover change and their effects on the vitality of communities under threat. We used multispectral data from the Landsat thematic mapper (October 1997) and associated ground truthing to produce a current vegetation map. With multitemporal remote-sensing data (acquired in 1972, 1985, and 1997), we derived land-cover maps of the region at roughly equivalent intervals over the past 25 years. Analyses with geographic information system models reveal rapid acceleration of urban and suburban sprawl over the past 12 years. Satellite images provide striking visual comparisons of land use and health. They also provide banks of geographically referenced data that make quantitative tracking of trends possible. The data on habitat degradation and fragmentation are the biological foundation of quantitative goals for regional restoration.Rastreo de la Fragmentación de Comunidades Naturales y de Cambios en la Cobertura de Suelo: Aplicaciones de Datos de Landsat para la Conservación en un Paisaje Urbano (Chicago Wilderness) Resumen: En Chicago hay una concentración de comunidades naturales globalmente significativas sorprendentemente alta. En la metrópolis sobreviven algunos de los mejores ejemplos mundiales remanentes de praderas de pastos orientales, sabanas de roble, bosques abiertos de roble y humedales de pradera. Chicago Wilderness es más de 81,000 ha de áreas protegidas en la matriz urbana y suburbana. También es el nombre de una coalición de más de 110 organizaciones dedicadas a la supervivencia de esas tierras naturales. La salud a largo plazo de estas comunidades amenazadas depende del manejo adecuado de las tierras, más extensas y restaurables, que rodean y conectan a los fragmentos de hábitat de alta calidad. La información crítica para el éxito de los esfuerzos de conservación en la región incluye: (1) un mapa actualizado de la vegetación de Chicago Wilderness con suficiente detalle para que la definición de metas cuantitativas para el plan de re- ‡ * Zone I, [0][1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15] II,[15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][2...
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Meeting international commitments to protect 17% of terrestrial ecosystems worldwide will require >3 million square kilometers of new protected areas and strategies to create those areas in a way that respects local communities and land use. In 2000–2016, biological and social scientists worked to increase the protected proportion of Peru’s largest department via 14 interdisciplinary inventories covering >9 million hectares of this megadiverse corner of the Amazon basin. In each landscape, the strategy was the same: convene diverse partners, identify biological and sociocultural assets, document residents’ use of natural resources, and tailor the findings to the needs of decision-makers. Nine of the 14 landscapes have since been protected (5.7 million hectares of new protected areas), contributing to a quadrupling of conservation coverage in Loreto (from 6 to 23%). We outline the methods and enabling conditions most crucial for successfully applying similar campaigns elsewhere on Earth.
In 1996, a coalition of diverse and determined organizations launched a new initiative in the Chicago region. Our vision? Chicago Wilderness: a thriving mosaic of natural areas, connected by greenways and wildlife corridors, embedded in the nation's third largest metropolis. In this vision, the region's human communities reclaim a cultural tradition of protecting and restoring the globally outstanding natural communities that enrich our lives. Today, more than 170 organizations join forces to transform this vision into reality. A regional biodiversity recovery plan, the result of 3 years of assessment and planning by scientists, land managers, educators, and policy strategists, sets priorities and determines the lines of action for the coalition. This regional agenda stems from our vision and recovery goals for each ecological community; it encourages targeted research initiatives that focus on characterizing our native biological diversity and on analyzing elements critical to its recovery. Ultimately, though, the long-term survival of our natural wealth rests on the support from the public. Although the challenges to conservation educators and communicators are many, Chicago Wilderness allows us to work together in understanding our audiences, channeling our resources, and creating novel approaches to engage the widest public in our conservation efforts.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org. This content downloaded from 130.102.42.98 on Sat, 03 Oct 2015 16:36:48 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and ConditionsCOLONIAL WATERBIRDS COLONIAL WATERBIRDS limited by a shortage of data on certain key aspects of the biology and ecology of the Marbled Murrelet as noted previously. It is important to note that, since publication of this volume, many of the projects discussed have continued and many new projects have been initiated. A follow up volume, perhaps in another five years, would prove an interesting and important comparison. This volume should be viewed as a critical addition to the Marbled Murrelet literature. However, it is not the sole source for interested biologists. Published symposia from Pacific Seabird Group meetings (H. R. . 1996. Chicago University Press, Chicago, Illinois, USA. 478 pp. Hardcover, $100 U.S. (ISBN 0226-77629-8); softcover, $37.50 U.S. (ISBN 0-226-77630-1). This impressive compendium runs to 478 pages, 3 maps of zoogeographic regions and sub-regions, 16 color and 46 monochrome plates of habitats, and 48 figures. It reprelimited by a shortage of data on certain key aspects of the biology and ecology of the Marbled Murrelet as noted previously.It is important to note that, since publication of this volume, many of the projects discussed have continued and many new projects have been initiated. A follow up volume, perhaps in another five years, would prove an interesting and important comparison. This volume should be viewed as a critical addition to the Marbled Murrelet literature. However, it is not the sole source for interested biologists. Published symposia from Pacific Seabird Group meetings (H. R.
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