Landscape-Scale Prioritization Process for Private Land Conservation in Alberta

Abstract

There are 12 conservation land trust organizations (CLTOs) in the province of Alberta, Canada that actively steward land. Together they have protected over 1.09 million hectares of land. Using in-depth interview data with published documents on CLTOs, this paper examines how CLTOs make decisions as to which projects to pursue and the kinds of justifications they offer for the projects they have completed. We identify 13 aspects that such a decision-making process should contain. The CLTOs studied have, to some degree, incorporated 7 of them. The remaining 6 aspects could easily be contributing substantially to some of the main the challenges identified in both the literature and our own research regarding private land conservation. Consequently, we recommend developing a robust landscape-scale approach to private land conservation, communicating that approach to all CLTOs, and increasing cooperation among CLTOs and between them and government. Keywords Private land conservation . Land trusts . Alberta . Landscape ecology . Conservatio

A review of critical perspectives on private land conservation in academic literature

“…Concerns about prioritization and decision-making include excessive focus on quantity over quality (Kamal et al 2015b). Some conservation land trust organizations fail to include important factors in their acquisition decision-making, using individualistic and opportunistic parcel-level protection efforts rather than a systemic landscape-scale process (Ryan et al 2014). Gaps include consideration of scale, parcel shape, leveraging, model iteration, and social and historical factors.…”

“…Several have noted the vulnerabilities that result from PLC's status as a voluntary activity. Because PLC depends on landowners being willing and aware of opportunities, important habitats may not be represented (Ladle et al 2014;Ryan et al 2014). In Poland, for example, Kamal et al (2015b) report that landowners have little interest in conservation and that PLC may thus have limited feasibility.…”

“…Private conservation landowners and reserve managers identify budget issues to be among their biggest concerns (Langholz 1996;Fitzsimons 2015), raising questions over whether planned conservation measures are feasible (Buergin 2016;Cooke and Corbo-Perkins 2018). Land trusts in the US cite a lack of funding among their top three challenges (Ryan et al 2014).…”

‘Shell games’, displacement and the reordering of boreal landscapes in Alberta, Canada

“…Interviews with NGO stakeholders support the findings of a recent study by Ryan et al . (), who note that private land trusts in Alberta often prioritise sites near existing protected areas given the opportunities for contiguous protection. Moreover, private conservation activities, including offsets, represent opportunities to deliver some very important conservation benefits, and to contribute to both national and international efforts to conserve boreal ecosystems.…”

“…These findings are consistent with a recent study by Ryan et al . (), who suggest that social and environmental justice considerations often receive scant attention in private conservation models. In the case of offsets, this may be related to the incommensurability of such issues with a model based on transferable equivalents.…”